New Zealand's ability to respond to a massive tsunami will be put to the test on Wednesday.

More than 100 agencies nationwide will take part in the Exercise Tangaroa, which will test the newly-updated national tsunami advisory and warning plan.

The revised plan makes use of new scientific modeling from GNS Science that allows for distinct threat warnings to be issued for 43 coastal zones.

"Previously we have not had the science to give this important regional detail," Civil Defense Emergency Management Director John Hamilton said in a statement on Monday.

"It is a good example of how science can help response to an emergency," he added.

Exercise Tangaroa -- named for the god of the sea, rivers, lakes and all life within them -- will begin with a simulated Pacific Tsunami Warning Center alert that a major tsunami may have been created by an earthquake off the coast of South America.

National warnings, clearly labeled as simulation messages, will be issued by the Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management to the National Crisis Management Center and agencies throughout the country.

Participants include all 16 regional civil defense emergency management groups, most local authorities, central government departments, emergency services, scientific agencies, welfare organizations, utilities, the transport sector and some media.