One of the most fascinating destinations of the Orient Expedition, New Zealand has a dark history regarding natural disasters. Some of these were so severe that even managed to modify the natural landscape of the land!

New Zealand is situated on a pretty complicated area: the Pacific Ring of Fire. It’s a geologically active region in which approximately 20.000 earthquakes occur per year. Of those, the population feels around 200, which are the strongest ones.

Because of these characteristics, New Zealand has been hit by disastrous earthquakes in its history. The latest serious one happened in 2010, which hit Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand and resulted in 185 deaths. Its aftermath was felt from Invercargill until Wellington.

The worst earthquake in New Zealand’s history happened in 1931. It’s the single worst natural disaster in the existence of the country. A total of 256 people died during the 2 minutes and 500 reflects the earthquake had in various locations for the next two weeks.

The ground zero of the earthquake was Napier, on the east coast of New Zealand. The disaster was so terrible that almost destroyed the city and changed the landscape. The earthquake caused several fires in chemistry shops and other types of commerce that made matters even worse. The authorities found it hard to administer so many occurrences since it lacked the proper structure.

The 1931 earthquake was terrible, but sparked a very important reform: a series of regulations for buildings to make sure they all were properly protected against earthquakes. After all, the disaster was worse because the buildings weren’t properly prepared. Nowadays, buildings and houses are built with reinforced structures.

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