Aotearoa remains stuck in disaster response mode, 10 years after the Christchurch quake, write risk and resilience experts Ursula Cochran, Kelvin Berryman and Hugh Cowan. How’s progress, New Zealand? Do we still have buildings that could kill 115 people in one go? Yes. Are we still building on liquefiable land? Yes. Do we have essential … Read more
The sudden closure of Wellington’s Central Library was a shock to residents in the capital. Gem Wilder reflects on her love for the library and her hopes for its future. I received the news via the Wellington City Council twitter account, posted at 2:50pm on Tuesday afternoon: Wellington’s Central Library building will be closed from 8.30pm … Read more
Eight years to the day since the earthquake that tore Christchurch apart, James Dann takes stock of the city rebuild. For most of the country, it’s just another Friday. For an increasing number of people in Christchurch, it’s just another Friday too. For many of us though, it is the 22nd of February, quake day. … Read more
Today’s 6.2 earthquake was centred near Taumarunui and transmitted via a rigid subducting slab on the east of the North Island A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck at 3.13pm today, centred 25 kilometres south-west of Taumarunui. Fire and Emergency said there were no immediate reports of damage. Classified as large and deep by GNS, it led … Read more
Add a new central library and a cinema complex to the Margaret Mahy playground and you’ll see a template for how the rest of the rebuild should work, writes James Dann. Christchurch in the rebuild is a city of extreme moods. There are bursts of energy, followed by long periods of frustration and stagnation. The … Read more
Social scientist Lucy Carter says people’s resilience and generosity during the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes spurred her to look at how Māori and indigenous communities respond to disaster. When I tell people I’m a disaster researcher, I tend to get a range of reactions. Some take the opportunity to share with me their personal … Read more
Thirteen months after it was shattered by an earthquake that ruptured more than 20 faults and triggered thousands of landslides, State Highway 1 is reopening north of Kaikōura. The fragility of the land has brought extraordinary challenges for the rebuild, writes Veronika Meduna Today is a big day for people north of Kaikōura – and … Read more
According to media reports, a slowing of the Earth’s rotation is likely to bring an increase in the number of severe quakes. What do NZ scientists say? The report follows a conference presentation last month by two US researchers who suggest a slowing of Earth’s rotation is correlated with an increase in earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher. … Read more
Auckland University researchers say beams of timber stuck onto the backs of unreinforced masonry façades could be a cheap and simple way to stop them collapsing in an earthquake. Laura McQuillan investigates. Owners of nearly 140 buildings from Lower Hutt to Canterbury have been given until the end of March to secure unreinforced masonry façades … Read more
Whether it’s one year or, in the case of the formidable Alpine fault, 300, looking back to these events should motivate action on building resilience, writes Ursula Cochran of GNS. First, we remember the dead. The two Kaikōura earthquake victims weren’t killed by the earthquake so much as by failure of the buildings they were … Read more
The Kaikoura earthquake wreaked destruction, tragedy and misery, but it also generated much scientific fascination. Including: what was going on in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone and those mysterious slow-slip events? Originally published November 23, 2016 A slow slip event off the east coast of the North Island, with an estimated equivalent impact of a M6.9 … Read more
Following the Kaikoura experience, Japan and Indonesia’s mechanisms may offer examples – and there is clearly need to tackle confusion over self-evacuation, writes geologist Jane Cunneen Following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake and tsunami on November 14, conversation is turning to whether New Zealand should have a 24/7 earthquake monitoring and tsunami warning system. The prime … Read more
A slow slip event off the east coast of the North Island, with an estimated equivalent impact of a M6.9 quake, was detected this week. GNS Science geophysicist Laura Wallace explains this important new area of seismic research, and what’s up with the Hikurangi subduction zone Among the most fascinating discoveries in the days following … Read more
View the impact of seismic activity on sea level following last Monday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake in this visualisation by Richard Clark, with commentary from geophysicist William Power. Comparing the quake drum and tidal gauge nearest to the Kaikoura quake, web developer Richard Clark has created an animated reconstruction of what happened following the violent magnitude 7.8 … Read more
Gerry Brownlee’s intemperate response to the GeoNet director’s calls for a 24/7 response centre can only damage further scientists’ willingness to share their expertise with the public, writes Richard Easther. On November 17 my alarm went off simultaneously with a call from Radio New Zealand asking me to do an on-air interview about the end … Read more
Tsunami scientists have returned from Canterbury, where they found at least one spot of severe damage from the tsunami that followed the Kaikoura earthquake, and it’s a powerful reminder that you shouldn’t wait for a formal evacuation, explains Caroline Little of GNS In the days since the earthquake, much of the focus at GNS Science … Read more
On a bus in Colombo Street five years ago, I experienced first-hand the hazards of sacrificing safety in the cause of an urgent return to normal service in the city, writes Ann Brower On February 22 2011, everyone around me died when a red-stickered building collapsed on to a bus I was riding. I was … Read more
GeoNet have published their latest future scenarios and aftershock forecasts following the M7.8 quake that struck early on Monday morning. Their advice follows … To help understand the earthquakes and what to do about them, many people what to know what will happen next? While we can’t predict earthquakes we can provide some forecasts of … Read more
The Kaikoura earthquake lifted long strips of coast out of the sea on Monday morning, in parts as high as two metres. Ursula Cochran and Kate Clark of GNS Science and Sharyn Goldstein of the University of Canterbury explain what’s going on. Much of the northeastern coast of the South Island was uplifted during the … Read more
A newly released map reveals the extraordinary complexity of Monday morning’s monster magnitude-7.8 earthquake. GNS Science earthquake geologist Nicola Litchfield explains what we’re looking at. Below, Ursula Cochran explains the big picture. Following the Kaikoura earthquake early on Monday morning, GNS Science geologists Nicola Litchfield and Pilar Villamor flew south by chopper from Wellington to … Read more
The Kaikoura earthquake underlines the need a 24/7 monitoring centre for geohazards, writes NZ GeoNet director Dr Ken Gledhill in a moving message that pays tribute to New Zealanders’ response and the extraordinary staff at GeoNet. As I said in a previous post about the five-year anniversary of the 22 February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake, I’m … Read more
Geonet has released newly calculated aftershock probabilities that put the chance of one or more M6-6.9 quake in the next day at 37%. Rapid field reconnaissance indicates that multiple faults have ruptured: Kekerengu Fault at the coast – appears to have had up to 10m of slip Newly identified fault at Waipapa Bay Hope Fault … Read more
Geonet recorded 878 events in the 24 hours after the monster 7.5-magnitude shock, more than 300 of them 4-magnitude or greater. Here Chris McDowall plots the quakes on an animated map. This animation shows all the earthquake events recorded by GeoNet’s monitoring network between Palmerston North and Christchurch on Monday, November 14. The big quake … Read more
A massive, magnitude-7.5 quake centred near Hanmer has led to at least two deaths, caused widespread damage and triggered tsunami alerts. Sara McBride of GNS explains what we know about the science behind the disaster, and what to expect next. A more recent update is here. What do we know so far? This earthquake was the … Read more
Naomi Arnold describes a terrifying night in Wellington, a phone alarm that warns ‘delicate land could sink under the sea’ and the solace of both Chilean tourists and RNZ’s Susie Ferguson. You take RNZ for granted most of the time. It’s always there – in the kitchen, in the car, snippets at a workshop in … Read more
The place: Cuba Street, downtown Wellington. The time: approximately midnight Sunday. Lloyd Jones is a writer and farmer, a strongly built fellow, a little bigger than I am, but I sized him up with a view to kicking his fat ass late on Sunday night in the lobby of our hotel in Cuba St, downtown … Read more
Five years on from the catastrophic earthquake, some of Canterbury’s finest reveal how they’re planning to mark the occasion, and how optimistic they feel about the recovery. At 12:51pm on February 22, 2011, Canterbury was changed forever, when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck. One hundred and eighty five people would lose their lives, with vast … Read more
Days before the five year anniversary of the destructive 6.3 earthquake, Christchurch has been struck by another tremor, wreaking damage far beyond a few broken mugs. Valentine’s Day started so well. I was watching Sunderland’s win over Manchester United*, with lovingly hand-crafted cinnamon brioche that my partner had made for me. Now, I’m sitting on … Read more