Civil Defence site falls over as country braces for possible tsunami
Kiwis flock to the web for information after a massive quake hits Japan.
An 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan earlier this evening triggered the US governement's Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre to issue a multii-country alert.
But any New Zealanders heading to the Civil Defience website for more information were out of luck.
The site was quickly overwhelmed.
NBR found it impossible to access around 8pm. At 9.45pm, the Civil Defence official Twitter account issued an update saying "We're still working to get www.civildefence.govt.nz back up and running again."
As of 10.26pm, the Civil Defence website was still inaccessible to some. The Department of Internal Affairs website (dia.govt.nz) was also also down - apparently collatoral damage.
Social networks registered angry comments both from those seeking information about the possible tsunami, and those who were attempting to access the site for Christchurch quake information.
Commenters questioned why the Civil Defence site was not equipped to handle a big surge in traffic - as can be expected in any potential disaster situation.
US government sites did carry data about when the tsunami could strike multimple countries, including New Zealand; view it in NBR's main story here.
With its website down, Civil Defence issued multiple updates though its official Twitter account. Advistories were also issued via radio and TV.
NBR staff
Fri, 11 Mar 2011
Fri, 11 Mar 2011
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Civil Defence site falls over as country braces for possible tsunami
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