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Residents ordered out of quake zone
By MIKE WATSON - The Dominion Post http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...d/2550667/Residents-ordered-out-of-quake-zone
Supplied
DANGER ZONE: Waihi Village.
<!-- video=2550488 count=1--> <!--video story page feature--> Evacuation prepared for Waihi Village
<!--end story feature title-->
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Central North Island
<!-- -normal_story_landing- --> <!--start components/story/common_content--> LATEST: A no-go area is likely to be imposed on the southwest edge of Lake Taupo later today because of the threat of a major landslide above tiny Waihi Village, Civil Defence said today.
About 50 residents of the village were evacuated from their homes last night, as fears grew of a landslide at the Hipaua Thermal Area above the village following a series of earthquakes and heavy rain in the area.
Most residents left voluntarily, although about six were reluctant to leave. Most were staying with relatives.
Some residents were temporarily allowed back in this morning to collect pets, fetch personal belongings and offer a karakia in the Catholic church.
Civil Defence controller Shamus Howard told a press conference this morning a no-go area would probably be in place by the end of the day in the lake from the Tongariro delta to about 600 northwest of the village.
While it was unlikely the landslip would come down, if it did it could cause a wave in the lake of up to two metres high, he said. Authorities did not want small boats in the area.
Technical experts from GNS Science and Environment Waikato (EW) will arrive at the village this afternoon to begin a further assessment of the situation.
Adam Munro, from EW, said risks in the area were difficult and complex.
The risk of a landslide has been assessed at three to four times higher than a week ago.
State Highway 41 between Pukawa and Tokaanu remained closed today, with access only available to emergency services and the brief return of residents.
Road blocks are in place in the area.
The official handover ceremony for the largest Treaty of Waitangi settlement, the Central North Island ''treelords'' deal, was to be signed at Waihi Marae this Saturday. It will now take place at Hirangi Marae in Turangi.
Civil Defence organisers are deciding how best to get food and other equipment from Waihi to the new venue.
Civil Defence and Emergency Management staff intend to conduct an aerial survey this afternoon.
The historic village - the ancestral base of Taupo iwi Ngati Tuwharetoa - is on a seismic fault line in an area of known instability near the Hipaua Cliffs geothermal area at the southwest corner of Lake Taupo.
Sixty people - including paramount chief Te Heuheu Tukino II - were killed in the village after a landslide in 1846.
Seismologists and civil defence staff are monitoring the area after increased seismic and geothermal activity raised the risk of a major landslide above the village.
There was concern that more earthquakes might dislodge boulders and trees, causing water to build up in blocked streams.
Waihi Village residents reported tremors and large boulders coming loose in streams above the village.
Cracks had appeared in marae walls and hot water springs had been found on the lake edge.
People living nearby in Tokaanu had reported cracked windows and foundations, shelves rattling, and paint and plaster coming off walls. Bird life had disappeared. A stream mouth at the village, near a waterfall, had shifted 40 to 50 metres.
Mr Howard said there were some reports of streams drying up and of other spots where streams started to flow where there were none before.
GNS Science vulcanologist Brad Scott said two large earthquakes on Saturday, measuring 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude, were the biggest recorded in the area in the past 10 to 15 years.
A swarm of hundreds of small earthquakes had been recorded in the area in the past seven days.
- with NZPA
By MIKE WATSON - The Dominion Post http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...d/2550667/Residents-ordered-out-of-quake-zone
DANGER ZONE: Waihi Village.
<!-- video=2550488 count=1--> <!--video story page feature--> Evacuation prepared for Waihi Village
<!--end story feature title-->
Relevant offers<!-- Begin relevant offers adspace--> <script>add_batch_ad('adRELEVANTOFFER1', '240x45_SPECIALOFFER','RELEVANTOFFER1');</script>
Central North Island
<!-- -normal_story_landing- --> <!--start components/story/common_content--> LATEST: A no-go area is likely to be imposed on the southwest edge of Lake Taupo later today because of the threat of a major landslide above tiny Waihi Village, Civil Defence said today.
About 50 residents of the village were evacuated from their homes last night, as fears grew of a landslide at the Hipaua Thermal Area above the village following a series of earthquakes and heavy rain in the area.
Most residents left voluntarily, although about six were reluctant to leave. Most were staying with relatives.
Some residents were temporarily allowed back in this morning to collect pets, fetch personal belongings and offer a karakia in the Catholic church.
Civil Defence controller Shamus Howard told a press conference this morning a no-go area would probably be in place by the end of the day in the lake from the Tongariro delta to about 600 northwest of the village.
While it was unlikely the landslip would come down, if it did it could cause a wave in the lake of up to two metres high, he said. Authorities did not want small boats in the area.
Technical experts from GNS Science and Environment Waikato (EW) will arrive at the village this afternoon to begin a further assessment of the situation.
Adam Munro, from EW, said risks in the area were difficult and complex.
The risk of a landslide has been assessed at three to four times higher than a week ago.
State Highway 41 between Pukawa and Tokaanu remained closed today, with access only available to emergency services and the brief return of residents.
Road blocks are in place in the area.
The official handover ceremony for the largest Treaty of Waitangi settlement, the Central North Island ''treelords'' deal, was to be signed at Waihi Marae this Saturday. It will now take place at Hirangi Marae in Turangi.
Civil Defence organisers are deciding how best to get food and other equipment from Waihi to the new venue.
Civil Defence and Emergency Management staff intend to conduct an aerial survey this afternoon.
The historic village - the ancestral base of Taupo iwi Ngati Tuwharetoa - is on a seismic fault line in an area of known instability near the Hipaua Cliffs geothermal area at the southwest corner of Lake Taupo.
Sixty people - including paramount chief Te Heuheu Tukino II - were killed in the village after a landslide in 1846.
Seismologists and civil defence staff are monitoring the area after increased seismic and geothermal activity raised the risk of a major landslide above the village.
There was concern that more earthquakes might dislodge boulders and trees, causing water to build up in blocked streams.
Waihi Village residents reported tremors and large boulders coming loose in streams above the village.
Cracks had appeared in marae walls and hot water springs had been found on the lake edge.
People living nearby in Tokaanu had reported cracked windows and foundations, shelves rattling, and paint and plaster coming off walls. Bird life had disappeared. A stream mouth at the village, near a waterfall, had shifted 40 to 50 metres.
Mr Howard said there were some reports of streams drying up and of other spots where streams started to flow where there were none before.
GNS Science vulcanologist Brad Scott said two large earthquakes on Saturday, measuring 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude, were the biggest recorded in the area in the past 10 to 15 years.
A swarm of hundreds of small earthquakes had been recorded in the area in the past seven days.
- with NZPA