More homes threatened by tsunami risk
Another 146 properties across Banks Peninsula are now considered under threat of flooding if a tsunami hits the Canterbury coastline.
The Christchurch City Council has updated its tsunami evacuation zones on the peninsula based on new scientific research.
Some 1549 street addresses are now included while the previous total was 1403.
‘‘The latest modelling shows us that in most areas, flooding from a tsunami may extend further inland than allowed for under the previous tsunami evacuation zones,’’ CCC Civil Defence emergency management head Rob Orchard said.
The information will be added to Land Information Memorandums (LIMs).
People can check if their property is in a tsunami zone by viewing an interactive map on the council’s website.
The new zones are based on tsunami modelling by GNS Science and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) generated by earthquakes greater than magnitude 9 off the coasts of South and Central America, on the Kermadec and Hikurangi subduction zones and elsewhere around the Pacific Ocean.
The Banks Peninsula review comes after Christchurch’s tsunami evacuation zones were reviewed last year and resulted in an additional 12,600 households being added in the city. There are two tsunami evacuation zones – red and orange – across most of Banks Peninsula. In Birdlings Flat there are three – red, orange and yellow.
The red zone is an area that is most likely to be affected by a tsunami.
It includes estuaries, rivers, beaches and harbours, where a tsunami of any size could cause strong currents and surges in the water. The orange covers areas on land that could be flooded in the event of a large tsunami.