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Site Analysis
Understanding all the features of a site, using and protecting the best, and minimising the impact of the worst.
Tsunami Hazard
A tsunami is a series of waves that occur as a result of the displacement of a large body of water. It is often due to an undersea earthquake, landslide or eruption, or a large coastal landslide.
Tsunami can travel long distances across oceans before striking a coastline. New Zealand’s location in the Pacific means that its coastline is vulnerable, particularly to tsunami coming from South America.
A tsunami can appear as a series of waves or a quickly rising tide, and the rise in water level can be high: a tsunami that struck in the Indian Ocean in 2004 was 9 metres high; the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 was 10 metres high.
In New Zealand, a tsunami from Chile in 1868 caused the sea to rise by 8 metres on some parts of the East Coast, while another from South America in 1960 was 5.5 metres high.
Tsunami can travel inland, up waterways or across very low-lying ground. The 2011 Japanese tsunami reached over 5 kilometres inland on some parts of the coast.