funkin_d

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funkin_d26 karma

Do you breathe in or out?

funkin_d2 karma

Wellington is certainly a pretty vulnerable location for natural hazards. The main earthquake risk is from the alpine fault which comes from the south island straight up towards Wellington, and ends in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone (look it up), which is what could produce at M9 earthquake. This is a similar type of hazard to what lies off California, and what caused the 2011 Japan earthquake. A seismic event here could be very large and cause a decent tsunami.

Wellington is vulnerable to this for a number of reasons:

  • It's right next door

  • the CBD is low-lying with plenty of areas in the way of a Tsunami (though luckily plenty of surrounding hills you can easily get up on foot!)

  • There are lots of old earthquake prone buildings in the city (seismic strengthening programme is ongoing, the City Council has a good online resource to see these)

  • There are significant parts of the city by the harbour (e.g. the port) which are on reclaimed land which is susceptible to liquefaction. There was a smaller M5-6 (can't remember exactly) earthquake in Wellington only a couple of years ago where liquefaction occurred and cause some damage.

In addition to this, there are only 2 ways out of the city by road, so it is quite vulnerable to supply issues. Oh and also, even though it's a sesimically active country, earthquakes aren't even NZ's biggest hazard. That is flooding and landslips and related issues. Pretty much every year we will have a major rain/flood event somewhere in the country, and Wellington has had it's fair share. There are also a lot of houses built on the edge of some pretty steep hills!

But hey, there aren't many locations you can live in NZ that are totally free of natural hazards, and "you can't beat Wellington on a good day"!