Public Disaster Education

Two 1942 Wairarapa earthquakes shook the lower North Island of New Zealand; on 24 June and 2 August. They were large and shallow with epicentres close together east of Masterton in the Wairarapa region. The June earthquake was sometimes referred to as the Masterton earthquake but both caused damage over a wide area, from Dannevirke and Eketahuna over to Whanganui and down to Otaki and Wellington. There was one death […]

The 1929 Murchison earthquake occurred at 10:17 am on 17 June. It struck the Murchison region of the South Island, with an estimated magnitude of 7.3, and was felt throughout New Zealand. There were 17 deaths, mostly as a result of landslides triggered by the earthquake. The rumbling sound of the earthquake was loud enough to be heard at New Plymouth, more than 250 km (155 mi) away.[2] Tectonic

The Cromwell–Dunedin express, travelling at speed, derailed while rounding a curve near Hyde in Central Otago. Twenty-one of the 113 passengers on board were killed and 47 injured in what was then New Zealand’s worst rail accident. When locomotive Ab 782 left the rails at 1.45 p.m. all seven carriages followed. Four were telescoped together

The 1968 Inangahua earthquake struck 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Murchison, New Zealand, near the small town of Inangahua Junction at 5:24 am NZDT on 24 May 1968. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 7.1, a local magnitude of 6.7, a surface wave magnitude of 7.4[3] and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Exreme). It occurred at a depth of 12 kilometres (7.5 mi), being extremely shallow for an earthquake

On the evening of 23 May all 29 crew on board the MV Kaitawa died when the ship was lost in heavy seas as it approached Cape Rēinga from the Tasman Sea. This was one of New Zealand’s worst shipwrecks of the 20th century. On a routine run with a cargo of coal from Westport to the Portland

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami (Spanish: Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (Gran terremoto de Chile) on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale.[1] It occurred in the afternoon (19:11 GMT, 15:11 local time), and lasted for approximately 10 minutes. The resulting tsunamis affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand,

The 526 Antioch earthquake struck Syria and, in particular, the city of Antioch in the Byzantine Empire. It occurred some time in late May 526, probably between 20 and 29 May, during mid-morning, killing approximately 250,000 people.[3] This was in the seventh year of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justin I and occurred under the consulship of Olybrius.[4] In Antioch the earthquake was followed by a fire that

The City of Dunedin was a 327-ton side wheel paddle steamer wrecked in Cook Strait near Cape Terawhiti on 20 May 1865 while sailing from Wellington to Hokitika via Nelson with the loss of all on board.[3] Captain James Parker Boyd commanded her.[4] Construction The City of Dunedin was an iron paddle steamer built in Glasgow by Archibald Denny of Dumbarton. She was fitted with 100 hp Denny and Co steam engines. Miss

The 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée was a volcanic eruption on the island of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc of the eastern Caribbean, which was one of the deadliest eruptions in recorded history. Eruptive activity began on 23 April as a series of phreatic explosions from the summit of Mount Pelée. Within days, the vigor of the explosions exceeded anything witnessed since the island was

7 May 1846 A devastating landslide obliterated the Ngāti Tūwharetoa village of Te Rapa on the south-west shore of Lake Taupō. Sixty people were killed, including the paramount chief Mananui Te Heuheu Tūkino II. This remains New Zealand’s highest death toll from a landslide. Te Rapa sat below the volcanic springs of Mt Kākaramea. The