Media Release

Latest News | Archives

Tsunami – coming to the Bay of Plenty says experts
Monday, 1 August 2005

Opotiki, Waihi, and Ohiwa harbour all show evidence of tsunami action dating back to the 1400s, but further back in history - 2900-3000 years ago - Tauriko experienced a wave that travelled seven km inland says Tsunami expert Dr James Goff. Tsunamis have come in the past and they will come again to the region in the future he says.

Dr Goff is one of three tsunami experts touring the North Island giving the Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) Pickering Lecture 2005. Speaking in Tauranga on Thursday, 11 August 2005, the experts will be discussing the devastation in the Indian Ocean from the Boxing Day Tsunami, the different aspects of tsunami phenomena, and the impact it would have on Northland’s infrastructure and coastline.

Alastair Barnett, a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ), is a Hydraulic Modelling Engineer and a renowned leader in tsunami hazard control design who will be describing the implications of providing inundation protection. “It has been mooted we should upgrade our early warning systems, and while this should reduce casualties, it would do almost nothing to reduce the economic impacts from damage to infrastructure and housing. We need to make allowances for tsunami hazards a routine part of planning for development,” he said.

Dr William Power, a scientist with the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, is currently involved in modeling tsunami which reaches New Zealand from South America, and he has been involved in calculating the propagation of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

Tauranga IPENZ Branch
Thursday, 11 August 2005
Washington Room,
Armitage Hotel
Time: 7.00pm
Free public lecture

The Pickering Lecture is so named after Sir William Pickering, an eminent New Zealand engineer who worked on the US space programme. William Pickering generously lent his name to this lecture series after he gave the keynote address at the 2002 IPENZ convention.

Speakers:

E = mv 2:Einstein, energy and engineering for tsunamis
by Dr Alastair Barnett
Dr Alastair Barnett FIPENZ, is a Hydraulic Modelling Engineer, and his firm Barnett & MacMurray Ltd are world leaders in tsunami hazard control, and will be describing the implications of providing inundation protection. He was a consultant on Te Papa.

Tsunami sources affecting New Zealand: What we know and what we need to find out
by Dr William Power
Dr Power is a Scientist with GNS and has done modelling of tsunami waves entering Wellington Harbour, and will explain the earthquake mechanisms for triggering a tsunami.

Tsunamis from start to finish: What happens in your backyard
by Dr James Goff
Dr Goff is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) based in Christchurch.

For more information contact:

Kathryn McGavin
Branch Facilitator
Branchfacilitator@ipenz.org.nz
Phone: 04 473 9444 ext 821

Back to News and Views