The first artificial tsunami evacuation zone in the Southern Hemisphere will be officially opened this afternoon in a suburb of Tauranga.

The artificial high ground is at Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa.

The mound has been created at Gordon Spratt Reserve in Papamoa and can withstand the shaking and liquefaction of an earthquake.

Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi says it will be officially opened during a ceremony about 3.30pm.

"And then they're going to do a community walk and a dry run so that everyone knows how to operate it, or how to get there in the event of an earthquake happening.'

Faafoi says the community pushed for it because it's a tsunami-prone area and the Tauranga City Council got behind it by paying for it.

"It will take close to four thousand people so in the event of a tsunami...there will be a place for close to four thousand local people to go to."

He says it's the first of four planned tsunami evacuation areas in Tauranga.