New Zealand at risk of tsunami waves as high as 92 feet every 580 years: Study

New Zealand faces the threat of colossal tsunamis, as high as 92 feet, once every 580 years, according to a groundbreaking study that employed a new method to assess tsunami risk.

The research, conducted by a team of experts from Victoria University of Wellington, used synthetic earthquakes, and computer models incorporating factors such as fault system geometry and physics, spanning 30,000 simulated years to comprehend potential tsunami risks to both the country's North and South Islands.

The study holds significance due to the critical proximity of New Zealand to subduction zones, specifically the Hikurangi subduction zone, where the Pacific tectonic plate is beneath the Australian plate just offshore.A subduction zone is a place on Earth where two tectonic plates meet, and one plate is forced beneath the other into the Earth's mantle.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

In the study, lead author Laura Hughes highlighted the urgency of comprehending the risks associated with these devastating waves due to the "really short timespan [between] when these earthquakes happened and when the tsunami waves hit."

Also Read |US rejects claims that it was plotting violent attacks against Cuba

"We're able to put in a variety of properties we think may exist and get that range of potential earthquakes and range of potential tsunamis that may happen," Hughes stated.

Also Read |Canadian faces 14 murder charges for allegedly selling suicide kits

The research, published in the journal JGR Solid Earth on November 29, revealed that the Hikurangi subduction zone poses the most significant threat, though the Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone to the north can also generate sizable, tsunami-inducing earthquakes.

The study found that smaller, shallower crustal faults, rather than subduction faults, contribute significantly to the tsunami hazard.

The results indicated a maximum tsunami height of 92 feet, stemming from a potential 9.13 magnitude earthquake northeast of Auckland in the South Pacific. The study estimated a tsunami of 16.4 feet every 77 years, with waves exceeding 49.2 feet occurring approximately every 580 years.

Watch |Gravitas: What Happened to 'Putin Critic' Alexei Navalny?

Laura Hughes stressed that tsunamis exceeding 3.3 feet trigger land evacuations, with smaller waves causing damage to ports and harbours.

While this marks the first application of the synthetic earthquake method to study tsunamis, Hughes suggested its potential use for assessing risks in other vulnerable regions globally.

Nevertheless, more work is needed to map out the comprehensive risk to New Zealand, as the current study did not account for distant earthquakes in the Pacific capable of generating tsunamisacross the entire ocean.

(With inputs from agencies)