Tidal wave memories reach encyclopaedia

A 10m-high tsunami has hit the East Coast of the North Island, washing away boats, furniture and even a cottage ... in 1947.

The tale of the Tatapouri tsunami is just one of many received by the editors of Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, following a call for people to tell their own natural disaster stories.

June Young was living with her parents in the Tatapouri Hotel in March 1947 when the tsunami hit after an earthquake off Poverty Bay. She remembers running up the hill behind the hotel with her mother to escape the rushing water.

"The first wave took everything other than the hotel back to sea with its backwash," Ms Young said.

"We could see a shed that was full of furniture, a small dinghy, a two-roomed cottage, plus a variety of other objects that had been in the waves path, floating out to sea."

After the water subsided seaweed was left hanging in the power lines.

Te Ara science editor Simon Nathan said they wanted to hear people's stories of natural disasters so they could be placed in the online encyclopaedia.

Entries should be about 500 words.

Full details are in the Te Ara news section of their website (see link below).

- NZPA