‘We revelled in it, whooping and hollering as we followed the ebb’. Rossi King-Turner describes her memory of the 1960 tsunami.
The tsunami in May 1960, caused by a Chile earthquake, is the one most often recalled by New Zealanders. Despite the potential of tsunamis to create tragic destruction, the 1960 event was not a major disaster in New Zealand. No lives were lost or even threatened. So when we invited stories about natural disasters, the 1960 tsunami accounts tended to be more amusing than terrifying.
What's your story?
A crab’s eye view
Rossi King-Turner, aged nine, sits on the beach in front of her home at Canoe Bay, Pelorus Sound in 1960.
Bird show
In May 1960 a tsunami reached New Zealand’s coast. At the time Lionel Hussey, a Leading Radio Electrical Mechanic (LREM) in the Royal New Zealand Navy, was attending a course at Devonport.
Head for the hills
This ship, HMS Buffalo, was wrecked on the main beach at Whitianga, Coromandel, in July 1840. The wreck gave its name to Buffalo Beach but was largely forgotten – until May 1960. Iain Lennox, who was living there, recalls what happened when the tsunami arrived.