Wairarapa: 'Get ready for big quake'

SHAKE-UP: Earthquake damage at the Eketahuna Four Square store, following the magnitude 6.3 earthquake last year.PHOTO/FILE

Wairarapa has a high risk for earthquakes and locals need to be prepared, a Civil Defence expert in the region says.

Civil Defence Emergency Management adviser Darrly McCurdy said it was important for locals to be aware of the risks and to prepare.

"The region has a high risk for earthquakes. We have the Wairarapa faultline that runs on the western side of the valley, which is a major issue.

"The last earthquake we had in Masterton in the'40s caused a huge amount of damage."

Mr McCurdy said it was important residents prepared within their community groups.

"We do a lot of working with the neighbourhood support networks, making sure that they know what sort of resources they have on hand if they need assistance in an emergency."

The region will be involved in Get Ready Week again this year, from October 11-17.

Ministry of Civil Defence spokesman Shane Bayley said the nationwide focus would also be on earthquakes.

"We have moved the week to correspond with Shake Out - a global earthquake awareness event," he said.

"In the case of an emergency, you need to be prepared to be on your own, to be able to look after family and neighbours.

"Those things are really important when all systems are down and you have to rely on each other."

He said Civil Defence would be urging people to prepare for more than three days.

"Our message has always been prepare for three days but we have seen from recent past events, like the Christchurch earthquake and the snow down south, that it may well be longer than that, so we have subtly changed it to 'at least three days'."

Earthquakes happen daily in New Zealand, though most are too small to be noticed. NZ has a very high seismicity on a world scale, with 20,000 quakes in and around the country each year, 200-300 of which are large enough to be felt.