What New Zealand Can Learn From Southeast Asia Quake

Sunday, 30 March 2025, 4:17 pm
Article: RNZ

Saturday Morning

The Myanmar quake has come as a reminder to stay on top of our own emergency preparedness plans here in New Zealand, experts say.

Earthquake experts suspect there could be some important lessons we could learn from the quake.

The 7.7 magnitude quake struck in Myanmar at lunchtime on Friday, and was followed by a powerful aftershock and several more moderate ones.

Victoria University professor John Townend said the quake was caused by a rupture in a fault line possibly 200 kilometres long and up to 20km deep.

He said it would be interesting to see how deep the quake ruptured the fault and which parts did and did not slip.

Townend also said the quake was similar to one that New Zealand could experience.

"This is something comparable to what we might expect for an alpine fault earthquake, that's something that statistically we think is very likely to occur in the next few years or decade."

Volcanologist and GNS principal scientist Graham Leonard told Saturday Morning the fault line near Myanmar was similar to the Wellington fault line.

"This fault line is a large known fault line, it's a strike slip fault line we call it, so one where the two sides slide past each other - kind of like Wellington.

"It's known as one of the most dangerous fault lines in the world, both because it's closest to the two largest cities in Myanmar, and because you know, the state of buildings in the country are variable."

He said fault lines became more deadly depending on where people live and how they live.

Leonard said the five biggest contributing factors - aside from the earthquake's magnitude - was the distance, ground, construction, slopes and proximity to the coast.

"The ground is illustrated by the shaking in Thailand, you know, it's 1000km away but quite a bit of shaking because it is really soft ground under Bangkok."

The Wellington fault is believed to have a 5 percent chance of a similar-sized earthquake to Myanmar in the next 50 years, but other surrounding faults have a much higher chance.

"The subduction zone, the Hikurangi subduction zone under and beside us has a 26 percent chance in 50 years, and other faults have a chance too.

"We actually need to be ready for shaking from many different places.

"The one difference for the Wellington fault is that it will crack through the city and harbour because the fault's right here," he said.

It is not just earthquakes the country needs to be aware of, it's also the potential aftermath of landslides, liquidation and tsunamis.

"Know your zone, know where your blue line is, and be practised and drilled about getting away from the coast."

Leonard said it was important for people to know how to turn off their gas because fires could cause a lot of damage after an earthquake.

He added that people really need to understand their insurance coverage.

"They have natural hazard cover off the back of private insurance, but you have to have private insurance to have that cover in the first place.

"And you have to make sure, beyond the cover from them, your house is insured to the full cover you expect, and there are limits to the land damage cover as well, so you need to look at your retaining walls and look at the land strength beyond your property," he said.

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