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Tsunami – missed Napier once – but what about next time?
Monday, 1 August 2005

You know the story - At 10.47am on 3 February 1931, a violent shock followed closely by a second rocked Hawke's Bay for almost three minutes. Instead of the ground subsiding large chunks of land rose thereby saving the city from any Tsunami occurring.

However, Dr Alastair Barnett, a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) says the story could have been so different if the land had subsided, and there is no way of knowing in the event of an another large earthquake what the ground will do.

Dr 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.

He is one of three tsunami experts touring the North Island giving the IPENZ Pickering Lecture 2005. Speaking in Napier on Wednesday, 17 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 the next tsunami could have on Hawkes Bay’s infrastructure and coastline.

Dr James Goff is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) based in Christchurch. He says Tsunamis have come in the past as he has found evidence of tsunami sediment in Wairoa dating back 6300 years ago, and says they will come again to the region in the future as history tends to repeat itself. Dr Goff will update our understanding of tsunami in the Hawkes Bay and share his concerns, and raise some questions about the implications for the region.

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

Hawkes Bay IPENZ Branch
Napier
Wednesday 17 August 2005
Lecture Theatre 1,
Eastern Institute of Technology
Time: 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start

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

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