The New Zealand tsunami zone we all should know - the Hikurangi subduction zone

Thursday, 4 April 2019

A look at the Hikurangi subduction zone, the big faultline off the east coast of the North Island.

The Hikurangi subduction zone is not an area most New Zealanders will have heard of, but it is potentially the greatest threat many of us are facing.

The zone is the location of New Zealand's largest and most active faultline, and new research suggests the likelihood of a massive rupture could be even higher than previously thought.

That could mean an earthquake almost the scale of the magnitude 9 disaster that caused the deadly tsunami in Japan in 2011.

'The reality is, it's not a matter of if, but when,' said Hikurangi Response Plan Project Lead, Natasha Goldring.

**READ MORE:

An earthquake from the Hikurangi subduction zone could devastate the east coast of NZ with a tsunami.

* Scientists prepare for Hikurangi subduction zone faultline to rupture in future

* Unravelling the risk from the killer faults threatening central New Zealand

* Megathrust quake: Evacuation zones would protect Kiwis from monster Hikurangi tsunami, scientist say**

Scientists are testing response plans by running simulations of a 'credible' scenario, in which the East Coast of the North Island was hit by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

New Zealand has a considerable history of tsunamis, including in Māori oral history. We have records of 10 tsunamis at least five metres high, and a 10 metre wave in Gisborne, in 1947.

Civil Defense is concerned that too many Kiwis don't have plans in place for a tsunami, considering how likely a major disaster is.

Five emergency management groups are working to develop the Hikurangi Response Plan, modelled after Japanese plans which saw 95 per cent of people evacuated in time.

'We want to spark informed and practical conversations about what Kiwis will do if they have to evacuate, can't get home, have no power, phone or internet,' Goldring said.