Kōrero: Natural hazards – overview

It is difficult to work out the full cost of floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but insurance claims give one indication. Although the cost was almost zero in some years, in others the cost of a major event amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. Large floods occurred regularly, accounting for most of the costs below $100 million, but these were minimal compared with the cost of the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake.