The tragic loss of life last week, six at Mt Maunganui and two at Welcome Bay, is a harsh reminder of NZ’s vulnerability to landslides. Our hearts go out to the victims’ families and the Tauranga community.
Landslides globally each year take the lives of about 5000 people. I have a strong interest with my PhD thesis on NZ landslides.
We were fortunate to have had no loss of life from the 200+ landslides triggered in Nelson’s August 2022 storm event. A woman was killed in Tāhunanui Drive in our previous big storm in 1970.
All three of the fatalities in the 1968 Inangahua earthquake were from landslides as were 14 of the 17 deaths in the 1929 Murchison quake.
Nelson is particularly vulnerable to landslides due to our city being nestled amongst steep hills, the frequency of intense rainfall and the risk of a major earthquake from any of the eight local seismic faults.
This is why Council has taken a conservative view when advised of significant geotechnical risks. We committed $18 million in 2023 to stabilising 18 of the most dangerous landslides triggered in the August 2022 storm and the work on 14 is complete.
We made the difficult decision in 2024 to buy out 10 homes in the Brook after receiving geotechnical advice that a landslide on Council land above them posed risks to their safety. The last of these homes are being removed this week following which we will be constructing a bund to protect the road.
We also bought out another seven properties in Tāhunanui, The Wood and Bishopdale exposed to excessive landslide risk. The buyout costs for these 17 was $12 million, shared 50% with Government. We are also tightening our consenting on new developments to reduce landslide risks.
The Government is also investing $14 million in current slip stabilisation works above Rocks Rd and $4 million in a new local rain radar.
We are also reviewing our systems to ensure emergency services are well connected with Council when the public raise alerts. We cannot eliminate all risk but need to learn from these tragedies and work to make our city safer.
