Geological Hazards
New Zealand suffers from many natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanic and hydrothermal eruptions, tsunamis, landslides, and floods.
The most severe earthquake was a M8.2 event in the Wairarapa, in 1855, and the most deaths (261) in a M7.8 earthquake in Hawkes Bay in 1931. Widespread property damage was caused by the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, which measured 7.1; The M6.3 aftershock of 22 February 2011 (2011 Canterbury earthquake) resulted in 185 fatalities.
Earthquakes along the East coast of the North Island have the potential to cause tsunami, as do earthquakes in South America.
The most severe eruption since European times is the Tarawera eruption in 1886. However, there are many potentially dangerous volcanoes in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Even a minor eruption at Ruapehu could cause the loss of electricity for Auckland, due to ash on the power lines, and in the Waikato River (stopping the generation of hydroelectric power).
Much of the North Island is steep, and composed of soft mudstone known as papa, that easily generates landslides.
Parts of New Zealand, especially Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, and the Manawatu can have high rainfall that can generate flooding of farmland.
Read more about this topic: Geology Of New Zealand
Famous quotes containing the word geological:
“The crystal sphere of thought is as concentrical as the geological structure of the globe. As our soils and rocks lie in strata, concentric strata, so do all men’s thinkings run laterally, never vertically.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)