The Mangatepopo Canyon Disaster was a flash flood that occurred on 15 April 2008 in the central North Island of New Zealand. Students and staff from Elim Christian College were at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre during a gorge trip. The flash flood resulted in the death of six students and one teacher. It took place at the Mangatepopo stream in the Tongariro

On 9 December 2019, Whakaari / White Island, an active stratovolcano island in New Zealand’s northeastern Bay of Plenty region, explosively erupted.[3] The island was a popular tourist destination, known for its volcanic activity, and 47 people were on the island at the time. Twenty-two people died, either in the explosion or from injuries sustained, including two whose bodies were never found

The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE901)[nb 1] flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board.[1][2] Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Antarctic sightseeing flights since 1977. This flight was supposed to leave Auckland Airport in the morning and spend a few hours flying over the Antarctic continent, before returning to

The 1970 Bhola cyclone (also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970[1]) was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India’s West Bengal on November 12, 1970.[2] It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the world’s deadliest humanitarian disasters. At least 300,000 people died in the storm,[3] possibly as many as 500,000,[4][5] primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that resulted in 1,836 fatalities and caused damage estimated between $97.4 billion to $145.5 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding areas.[1] At the time, it was the costliest tropical cyclone on record, tied now with Hurricane Harvey of 2017. Katrina was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane,

The 2009 Fiordland earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand with a magnitude of 7.8[2] at 9:22 pm (NZST) on 15 July. The earthquake was centred in the remote region of Fiordland, with the epicentre located 150 km (93 mi) west-north-west of Invercargill near Dusky Sound in Fiordland National Park, at a depth of 12 km (7.5 mi).[2][3] It is among the largest New Zealand earthquakes to occur, including the Culverden/Kaikoura earthquake in 2016 and

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

The Titanic sank in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 (ship’s time)[a] on Sunday, 14 April 1912. Her sinking two hours and forty minutes later

Tragedy in Wellington Harbour The sinking of the Lyttelton–Wellington ferry Wahine on 10 April 1968 was New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster. Fifty-one people lost their lives that day, another died several weeks later and a 53rd victim died in 1990 from injuries sustained in the wreck. The Wahine’s demise also marked a coming of age for television