Earthquake Commission IQ

Risk Maps

Central and Southern South Island

Map

Risk in the Central and Southern South Island Region

Their proximity to the Alpine Fault, puts the Canterbury and West Coast regions at risk from earthquakes. The fault is the surface expression of the collision zone between the Australian and Pacific Plates. This process of collision has thrust up the Southern Alps and caused several large earthquakes. The most recent big earthquake happened in 1717 AD, causing movement along a 375 kilometer stretch of the fault.

In 1888 a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in North Canterbury knocked the top of the spire of Christchurch Cathedral. Then in 1901 Cheviot was struck by a magnitude 6.9 quake, and a baby was killed in the collapse of a sod hut. There were many broken windows, cracked stonework and toppled chimneys in Christchurch.

Along the coasts 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. The 1960 Chilean earthquake generated a 5.5 metre tsunami in Lyttelton, which poured over the walls of the dry-dock.

As has ben seen regularly since the turn of the century, movement of the alpine Fault in Fiordland can generate large earthquakes that affect much of the Otago and Southland regions. In 2003  a magnitude 7.2 earthquake centred near Secretary Island lifted the seabed significantly and triggered more than 200 landslides.

There have been tsunamis on the Otago and Southland coasts. In 1820 there was a 10 metre wave in Foveaux Strait, reputedly drowning many Maori walking along the beach near Orepuki.

Past Events

Aoraki / Mt Cook - Landslip: 14/12/1991

Christchurch - Earthquake: 01/09/1888 Magnitude 7.2

Lyttleton - Tsunami: 15/08/1868 7 metres

Fiordland - Landslip: 13,000 years ago, 27m³ of wreckage over 45km³

Fiordland - Earthquake: 22/08/2003 Magnitude 7.1

Abbotsford - Landslip: 08/08/1979

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