Earthquake Commission IQ

Risk Maps

Central North Island

Map

Risk in the Central North Island Region

From New Plymouth's Mount Taranaki in the west, out to White Island off the Bay of Plenty coast, volcanoes are a feature of the central North Island landscape. These volcanoes are products of the Pacific plate sinking beneath the Australian plate. This type of plate activity is called subduction and the friction and pressure melts the rock below the earth's surface. It emerges explosively through the volcanoes.

Earthquake risk is also high as the two plates push into and past each other. Eventually the pressure is released as earthquakes i.e. the pulses of energy produced when the solid rock of the crust breaks up. The Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931 was the most destructive in New Zealand's history with 258 lives lost.

Along the Bay of Plenty coast and the East cost there is the risk of tsunami, both from those generated far away across the Pacific near South America and from those generated in the ocean close to New Zealand. In March 1947 an earthquake off Poverty Bay, probably accompanied by an underwater landslide, produced a 10 metre high tsunami north of Gisborne.

Landslips are another significant hazard for many people living in the central part of New Zealand.

The East Coast of the North Island is particularly at risk from earthquakes and tsunami. It is located above the Hikurangi subduction zone at the boundary of the Australian and Pacific Plates.

Like many areas of New Zealand, the East Coast of the North Island is also susceptible to landslips. And should there be a volcanic eruption, it could be affected by ashfall.

Past Events

White Island - Ongoing Active Volcano

Edgecumbe - Earthquake: 02/03/1987 Magnitude 6.0

Gisborne - Tsunami 26/03/1947, 7-10 metres

Taupo - Volcano: 1995-96 Full eruption, lahars, flood.

Waihi - Landslip: 07/05/1846, Killed 60 people.

Hawke's Bay - Earthquake: 03/02/1931 Magnitude 7.8

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