BoM app sends out ‘tsunami warning’ – but it’s not what it seems

The Bureau of Meteorology sent out a test tsunami warning via its app, causing confusion for thousands of Aussies who thought there was a real threat.

The alert was triggered by a fictional 8.2 magnitude earthquake off New Zealand and was part of the agency’s transition to new tsunami early warning software. 

BoM clarified that there is no actual tsunami threat to Australia, and the notifications were solely for testing purposes. 

‘The Bureau of Meteorology issued test verification posts on the BOM App between 11AM-12PM AEST on Wednesday 25 September 2024 as part of the transition to the new tsunami early warning system software,’ it explained. ‘There is no tsunami threat to Australia.’ 

Many Aussies believed the alert was real, unleashing on the Bureau for the false alarm.

‘If you’re going to send out “TSUNAMI ALERTS” as a test, maybe include that in the notification title and not just in the message you have to open in the app,’ one said. 

A second joked: ‘Just got a warning that a tsunami is hitting in ten minutes – time to tell my boss what I really think.’ 

A third said it was ‘very odd’ that the test wasn’t publicised more, given the nature of the alert.

‘The **Test** part of the notification could have been more prominent. I was in the process of shooting of warnings to our SE QLD team,’ another added.