Historical Disasters By Region
Earthquakes
•1931 - a magnitude 7.8 quake strikes Napier, killing 256 people and destroying the city and nearby Hastings.
•1932 - the Wairoa earthquake, magnitude 6.9, damages buildings and topples the Wairoa River bridge.
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Tsunami
•1868 - a tsunami from an earthquake in Chile takes 15 hours to reach New Zealand, building to a height of 8 metres.
•1960 - a footbridge and a gas-line are damaged at the Ahuriri Basin by a 3 metre tsunami from the Chilean earthquake.
Volcanoes
•Although there are no volcanoes in Hawke's Bay, the area has been affected by ash falls, including from Mount Ruapehu in 1945, 1975, 1995 and 1996, and Mount Tongariro in 1896.
Storms
•1968 - Cyclone Giselle causes much storm damage throughout the country.
•1988 - Cyclone Bola rips off roofs, downs trees and causes major slips. Six people die.
•2001 - a severe rain storm causes millions of dollars of damage to buildings in Napier and Hastings.
Floods:
•1897 - floodwater flows through Taradale, Clive and Napier. Two boats rescuing people on a bridge are overturned and 10 people drown.
•1938 - a flash flood kills 21 workers at a camp in Kopuawhara.
•1938 - during the Esk Valley Floods, thousands of acres of farmland are ruined, bridges are swept away and communications cut.
•2004 - intense rainfall and gale force winds in February cause flooding to many areas in New Zealand, leaving hundreds of people homeless, farmland covered in silt, sheep and cattle drowned or swept away, bridges damaged and roads closed.
Non-natural Disasters
•1886 - a wildfire in the Seventy Mile Bush leaves forty families homeless in Norsewood and Ormondville.
•1918/19 - Spanish flu, our worst disaster, kills over 8,000 New Zealanders.
•1957/58 - the Asian flu comes in two waves, and affects about 70-80% of the population, though few people die.
•1968/69 - the Hong Kong flu reaches New Zealand. As it occurs mainly during the Christmas holidays, it does not spread as fast amongst schoolchildren and their families.
•2009 - human cases of non-seasonal influenza A (H1N1) 'swine flu' resulting from human to human transmission are identified in Mexico in April, with subsequent spread to many other countries, including New Zealand. All of New Zealand’s cases have recently returned from travel in affected areas or are close contacts of cases. New Zealand continues its efforts to contain the influenza A (H1N1) swine flu virus and prevent community transmission. By late May case numbers in New Zealand remain stable, but the number of overseas cases being notified to the World Health Organisation continues to increase.