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Tsunami in the Waikato?
Tuesday, 2 August 2005

In 1960 Mercury Bay and Whitianga both experienced freak waves measuring over two metres, but nothing compares to the 15th century at Otama/Opito where a wave of between five and 10 metres hit, or the 20-30 metres high wave that reached the West Waikato coast. Tsunamis have come in the past and they will come again to the region in the future says Tsunami expert Dr James Goff.

Dr Goff is one of three tsunami experts touring the North Island giving the Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) Pickering Lecture 2005. Speaking in Hamilton on the 10th August, 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.

Tsunami - Hamilton Pickering Public Lecture
Room MSB 1.101, Management School,
University of Waikato,
Hillcrest Road
Hamilton
Date: Wednesday, 10 August 2005
Time 6.30 pm

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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