New Zealand Disasters

Lesson 5: Landslides, Plane Crashes, Structural Collapse & Flooding

Key Content

• Abbotsford Landslide 1979.
• Mt Erebus Disaster 1979
• Cave Creek 1995
• Floods February 2004.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Outline the sequence of events leading up to each disaster.
• Describe the impact of the disaster on people.
• Describe how people increased or decreased the effects of the disaster on them and their communities

Abbotsford Slip 1979

13. Know what you have to do before you have to do it (Extract), Ministry of Civil Defence

Know what you have to do...

Extracts from a Civil Defence instructional film about landslips and earthquakes.

a. In which New Zealand city is the suburb of Abbotsford?
Dunedin.

b. Describe what happened there in 1979?
Part of a hillside suburb gave way in a massive slip. The slip engulfed houses and destroyed part of the neighbourhood.

c. How many families were left homeless? 100.

Erebus 1979

14. Erebus Disaster - Sunday 28/10/84 (Extract), TVNZ, 1984

Erebus Disaster (1984)

Extracts from a 1984 documentary about the causes of the 1979 Air New Zealand plane crash into Mt Erebus in Antartica.

a. What were the purposes of the Air New Zealand Antarctica flights?
Sightseeing.

b. What was considered to be the main cause of the disaster?
Air New Zealand changed its computerised navigation flight plan without informing the pilot. The computerised navigation system was now programmed to fly the plane directly into Mt Erebus.

c. How many people died in this plane crash?
257 (all on board).

Cave Creek

15. Cave Creek 1995, 20/20 Series III

Cave Creek, 20/20 (1995)

a. How many died at cave Creek? 14

b. What were the people who died doing at Cave Creek that day?
They were Outdoor Recreation students from Greymouth Polytech on a field trip. One DOC officer also died.

c. How many survived the fall? 4

d. Describe what happened?
The students were looking into a ravine at Cave Creek from a viewing platform. The platform gave way under the strain of all those standing on it. The platform and 18 people plunged 30 metres onto jagged rocks in the ravine below.

February Floods 2004

16. TV3 News, 17/2/2004 (Extract)

Images from the flood shown on TV3 News (February 2004)

a. Which parts of New Zealand were most affected by the flooding?
The Lower North Island and Upper South Island around Marlborough.

b. What are some of the effects on land and people that the flooding has?
Pastures destroyed, landslips, strandings, road closures, fencing damaged, surface flooding, overflowing sewage system, airports closed, concern over the stability of the Barnes Dam in Picton, pipes cut, bridges collapsed.

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