Australians sent into panic as authorities issue tsunami warning – then say it was just a test

A brief panic gripped parts of eastern Australia on Wednesday after the national weather bureau sent a tsunami warning to thousands of residents.

People along the New South Wales and Queensland coast received the Bureau of Meteorology warning, sent shortly after 11.30am, reading: “tsunami warning” and giving the location of the user. App users were informed that a tsunami was approaching, caused by an 8.2 magnitude earthquake off the west coast of New Zealand.

People living inland and as far west as Canberra – 125km from the closest beach – received the message.

Moments later, a second message followed, reading: “cancelled tsunami warning”. A notice in the app told users the previous message had been a test.

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The intervening moments were enough to send some app users into a state of alarm or confusion.

“Holy crap! Just a got a tsunami warning”, one X user wrote.

While the bureau had issued notice of the test via social media, app users said they were not notified that a test run was planned.

A bureau spokesperson said the test posts were issued as part of a transition to new tsunami early warning system software.

“There is NO tsunami threat to Australia,” they said.

“The Bureau acknowledges and apologises for any confusion that this test may have caused.

“Testing is important to help the Bureau and partners prepare and plan for real tsunami threats.”

The bureau is part of the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC), which detects, monitors, verifies and warns of any tsunami threats to the coastline of Australia and its offshore territories.

The spokesperson said the bureau “provides the most accurate tsunami warning information for Australia”.