[Moorf]

A good one this - suggested by another forumite. :nice1

Have you been affected by a natural disaster/phenomenon since arriving in NZ?

Do you feel you are in more danger of being affected by a natural disaster here in NZ than in your home country (I'm sure some UK peeps have already had their fair share of floods this year, as well as NZ folk!)?

What are you most worried about while living here? Quake? Tsunami? Drought? Landslide? Floods? And does it affect your daily life?

Do you have a "Disaster Kit" or intend to put one together? Did you have this to consider in your home country?

Does the possibility of natural disasters, such as quakes, affect where you live in NZ and what house you buy? Are you well-versed in what to look for in a house in a quake/flood zone?

I'm not talking heavy rain/changing weather here - I'm talking major natural disasters... apparently there's around 15,000 quakes in NZ every year... have you felt one?

In the three years we've been here I've felt a very light quake and, if it hadn't been for the dog waking me, I doubt I'd have felt that. I have experienced more quakes in Greece than NZ. :yes

Over to you...

[clg]

A wash for us, we swapped earthquakes for earthquakes we had kits in both places. The building I work in now though is safer (newer) than the one I used to work in. Weather can be more of a threat here I guess but I don't worry too much about it.

[nippa&pippa]

Not yet *touch wood* experiences any of those natural disasters but because of location of our house, mean we need emergency kit keep in our house which i have already done with tip from Moorf :nice1 on what we need.
Only worry me big time is communications during disasters if my OH is struck in chch and left me alone to deal with kids not knowing what is really has happening....radio is totally useless for me :uhoh and civil centre point is too far if can't use car....

[JasonS]

...and I felt a pretty good quake while visiting in Nov 2004. I think it was an 7.1 somewhere off the south coast. It was pretty deep, so no tsunami was reported afterward.

I was in Wanaka, walking through the New World and everything started to sway. I saw a woman step quickly away from the shelves into the center of the aisle just as product started to jump from them. It was my first earthquake so it took a minute to sink in what had just happened. I made a comment and someone recognizing I had no Kiwi accent, asked if I was there on holiday, with a bit of shock still in my voice I think I mumbled, "uh, yes." They chuckled and said something about a memorable holiday.

Thinking I should be outside instead of within a building, I left the few groceries I had and wandered outside of the store. I milled about a bit, where there were some surveyors who had been working in the central part of town. I, jokingly, asked them if the road shifted. He said that it was actually still going. Mind you, this is about 10 mins after the quake. He let me peer through his surveying equipment and you could see the ground floating up and down about 1 cm. It was pretty neat because you really couldn't feel it moving, but certainly could see it through the sight.

With this experience in mind, if/when we arrive, I'm not sure what I'll do for emergency preparation. My day job is in Risk Management and Business Continuity, so if I practice what I preach, I'll be fully prepared with food, water, generator, flashlight/torches, etc.

Jason

[katandbob]

Over to you...

Have you been affected by a natural disaster/phenomenon since arriving in NZ? No

Do you feel you are in more danger of being affected by a natural disaster here in NZ than in your home country (I'm sure some UK peeps have already had their fair share of floods this year, as well as NZ folk!)? No - My street/town was under water at the beginning of June - so I missed out on it by a year!

What are you most worried about while living here? Quake? Tsunami? Drought? Landslide? Floods? And does it affect your daily life? not really - Southland is not that prone to earthquakes - its had a few, but not many.
Flooding - it does have that issue - with rivers from mountain ranges etc entering the sea here, but apparently in the last big flood our street was safe - even though Invercargill was under water - our street with the estuary at the end of it was ok
I suppose a Tsunami would be possible
Drought :laugh :laugh

Do you have a "Disaster Kit" or intend to put one together? Did you have this to consider in your home country?errm - trying to get one together!

Does the possibility of natural disasters, such as quakes, affect where you live in NZ and what house you buy? Are you well-versed in what to look for in a house in a quake/flood zone? Yes it would - and Rob definately wanted a solid house!

I'm not talking heavy rain/changing weather here - I'm talking major natural disasters... apparently there's around 15,000 quakes in NZ every year... have you felt one? NO

In the three years we've been here I've felt a very light quake and, if it hadn't been for the dog waking me, I doubt I'd have felt that. I have experienced more quakes in Greece than NZ. ah - Hot med country - :cheers

Cheers

Kat

[jubjub]

If you believe the scientists, everyone in Auckland is living on borrowed time, and all the volcanoes that are underneath it, something in the region of 50, are due to blow at some point in the not sooo distant future... but hey, if you think about that every day, you would go daft.

We have had tornadoes whizz past just 2km from our house, every July since we moved here (3 yrs running!) Even just at the outskirts of it its a bit scary, VERY heavy rain, VERY strong winds, I would not want to have been caught outside thats for certain, or been any nearer.

emergency kit... eeerrrmmmm, no (oops) we have the list that came in the mail box a few weeks ago, sat on the desk, in the "to do" pile.

[Carol]

emergency kit... eeerrrmmmm, no (oops) we have the list that came in the mail box a few weeks ago, sat on the desk, in the "to do" pile.

Same
*blushing*


must get round to it now we are into our 12th year!!!

[nippa&pippa]

*blushing* is i am only one got emergency kits together????? please!! there must be someone got one too.....:o

[Joanne100]

Your not alone Sophia, ive had my kit together for a year now, although im not sure how useful it will be if myself and hubby r at work and kids at different schools wen/if something happens!
I maybe well prepared with my water, tinned food, torches and stuff but dont know wot the hell ill do if we are all separated............PANIC???!!!!

I suppose i do think about a disaster happening now im here in NZ dont think it even entered my head in the UK.
I joke with my friends that if there is a tsunami, i will hang out my window and grap hold of them as they float past me! but being on the hill does worry me, "what if the house slides down the hill?" how good is my emergency kit then?
Thanks for that Moorf, can i go back to not thinking about it again now pls? lol

[Debbie]

We felt the earthquake that hit Northshore area early this yr, but had to laugh with family back home, who had made a big thing about NZ tendency to natural disasters, because not long after Kent was hit by a bigger quake than we had here.
I keep talking about talking about an emergency kit, especially since all the power in a recent storm, but haven't done one yet. Any good links as to what i should organise would be great.
Debbie

[jubjub]

Debbie, here is a thread done by Smiler ages ago when she made hers up...

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7267&highlight=earthquake

[diforsyth]

apparently there's around 15,000 quakes in NZ every year

The following link has records of recent quakes over 2.0 (30 in the last month and 4 today)
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html

David

[Familyofmonkeys]

Do you have emergency kits packed in bags ready to pick up and go...or just all right stuff around your house? How much bottled water do you have....seen loads of conflicting advice on that one.:confused:

[Joanne100]

I have one big bag of stuff in the garage, prob too heavy to pick up as we are fleeing the house, and i have bottles of water all over the house not sure how much ive got prob about 10 2litre bottles, not enough as there r five of us, and 3 cats! but ive got nowhere else to store it.

I have all bottles marked with a date of expiry two years from filling them, um maybe i should check them as ive been here two years !! opps