Over the centuries, Māori have recorded a litany of natural hazards and catastrophic events in their stories, songs, and place names. Now Darren King, James Goff, and Apanui Skipper are investigating how this wealth of information can complement scientific studies and management of natural hazards.
Recent tsunami generated by earthquakes off Samoa and Vanuatu were detected by 12 sea-level gauges around New Zealand, revealing delays of up to 15 hours in local occurrence of peak waves. Using data from the Vanuatu tsunami, NIWA scientists demonstrated new hydrodynamic computer models that may soon be able to predict the effects of regional tsunamis in near real-time.
NIWA hydrologists were recently in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau, installing hydrological stations and training local staff in the installation and operation of equipment, and in data processing.
NIWA scientists are part of a team aiming to assess the tsunami risk in the French Territory of Wallis & Futuna. By coincidence, the team was on Futuna a week after the 29 September 2009 Tongan earthquake and tsunami and were able to view the damage first-hand.
NIWA has been working closely with the Kiribati Government for over two years, contributing to the Kiribati Adaptation Program (KAP II) initiative to plan for climate change. Our role has included assessing hazards such as drought, high intensity rainfall, extreme sea levels, and wave conditions for the islands that make up Kiribati.
