Leading NZ scientists coming to a home near you

Scientists will beam their way into Kiwi’s homes next month, thanks to the 2020 East Coast LAB virtual talk series hosted on the East Coast LAB Facebook page.

Hikurangi Response Planning Project Leader Natasha Blunden says, ”We love meeting people face-to-face at our town hall events, however we all need to play our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This is why we’re holding our June public talk series online.”

Sponsored by the Hikurangi Response Planning project, the talks aim to help people understand Hikurangi subduction zone research, the earthquake and tsunami risk posed by the Hikurangi subduction zone, how emergency managers along the east coast are planning, and how we all can all increase our resilience to this significant hazard.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us all how much we can achieve when we work together as a team of five million – we are all part of Civil Defence in New Zealand and we can all take steps to increase our resilience to Hikurangi subduction zone earthquakes and tsunami,” says Mrs Blunden.

The Hikurangi Response Planning project is funded by the National Emergency Management Agency’s -Resilience Fund, and is a collaborative project between scientists, emergency practitioners, emergency services and private industry, to increase community resilience and conduct response planning for a large Hikurangi subduction zone earthquake and tsunami.

The talk topics and dates are as follows:

• ‘Earthquake and tsunami forensics – investigating the past and present to plan for the future’ – Thursday, 4 June, 7pm
• ‘Scientific storytellers – imagining a large Hikurangi event’ – Thursday, 11 June, 7pm
• ‘Papamoa to Petone – why will a large subduction zone event affect us all so differently? – Tuesday, 16 June, 7pm
• ‘Has COVID19 made us better prepared for a large Hikurangi subduction zone earthquake and tsunami?’ – Wednesday, 24 June, 7pm

The talks follow the 60th anniversary of the 1960 Chile tsunami, which led to New Zealand authorities issuing a tsunami warning by radio and evacuating residents in low-lying areas – a timely reminder that all of Aotearoa’s coast is at risk of tsunami and the importance of being prepared.

Videos:

Earthquake and tsunami forensics – investigating the past and present to plan for the future

[YouTube id=dyoQdIhPmFY&t=316s]

For more information on the Hikurangi Response Planning project, visit www.eastcoastlab.org.nz/hikurangiresponseplan

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