Natural Hazards

Nature can be a destructive force. Our science will help to prevent property damage and save lives.

Natural Hazards

Nature can be a destructive force. Our science will help to prevent property damage and save lives.

Mā te haumaru ō nga puna wai ō Rākaihautū ka ora mo ake tonu: Increasing flood resilience across Aotearoa

This five-year NIWA-led research programme is developing a system to map flood hazard consistently across the whole country. It will reveal how our flood risk might change over the next 100 years because of changes to rainfall and sea level from climate change, as well as due to land-use changes. Find out more.

RiskScape software

RiskScape is New Zealand's next generation, open source, loss modelling software developed by GNS Science and NIWA in collaboration with the Toka Tū Ake (EQC) and Catalyst IT Limited. Find out more.

Storm-tide red-alert days 2023

Storm-tide red alerts are the highest high tide (also known as king tides) dates that Emergency Managers and Coastal Hazard Managers should write in their diaries and keep an eye on adverse weather (low barometric pressure, onshore winds), river levels and sea conditions (waves and swell). This page shows the 2023 dates of the highest high-tide "red alert" dates, and the lowest high-tide dates.

My Coastal Futures online game

The My Coastal Futures game was developed to help people understand climate change impacts and start thinking about how they might adapt. It provides players with the experience of making decisions about their coastal property as the sea level rises

Protecting people

Mia Blyth talks to an environmental hazard specialist who feels a very personal connection to his work.