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disasters

The 5-Minute Volcano board game box with cards and components.

Article

5-Minute Volcano

The game 5-Minute Volcano is a fast-paced, entertaining introduction to natural disasters. Aotearoa New Zealand sits on the edges of two tectonic plates – the Australian ...

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A year on, we know why the Tongan eruption was so violent

Article

A year on, we know why the Tongan eruption was so violent

Explore the impact that the huge Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption in January 2022 has had on volcanologists theories on volcanoes. A multi-beam sonar mapping system was ...

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Seed banks – protecting biodiversity

Article

Seed banks – protecting biodiversity

Seeds are part of most plant life cycles. Seed-producing plants and the seeds they produce provide resources for humans and other living things. These include food ...

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Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next

Article

Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next

In January 2022 the world was shocked to hear of a sudden huge volcanic eruption close to Tonga, causing a tsunami and volcanic ash to cover ...

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What now for the <i>Rena</i>?

Article

What now for the Rena?

This Connected article looks at the aftermath of the 2011 environmental disaster caused when the MV Rena struck Astrolabe Reef, off the Tauranga coast. Since then, ...

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Kelp forests after the Kaikōura earthquake

Article

Kelp forests after the Kaikōura earthquake

The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake caused sudden large-scale changes along the coastline. The intertidal zones were lifted up to 6 metres in some places. In the media, ...

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Monitoring marine environments with drones

Article

Monitoring marine environments with drones

Aerial imaging is not new, and scientists have been using data gathered from manned flights for decades. In recent decades, Earth-oriented satellites have become the dominant ...

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Building for the future

Article

Building for the future

On the islands of Sāmoa, the effects of climate change are being felt. Tsunamis, cyclones and sea level rise are some of the natural hazards villages ...

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Earthquake scientists on trial

Article

Earthquake scientists on trial

At present, it is not possible for scientists to accurately predict the time, location or strength of earthquakes, nor to tell if a swarm of small ...

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Kaikōura earthquake

Article

Kaikōura earthquake

The 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake was a complex sequence of ruptures that included 12 major faults and nine lesser faults. The initial rupture started on ...

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Cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes

Article

Cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes

Have you ever wondered about the differences between cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes? It is all due to their location. When they occur in the South Pacific ...

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Extreme weather

Article

Extreme weather

Each day, people talk about the weather. It affects our jobs, our leisure and our travel, so when meteorologists (scientists who forecast the weather) predict extreme ...

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Restoring mauri after the <i>Rena</i> disaster

Article

Restoring mauri after the Rena disaster

In October 2011, the Greek container ship MV Rena ran aground on Ōtāiti, also known as the Astrolabe Reef, off the coast of Tauranga. Explore what ...

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Where land meets sea, the <i>Rena</i> disaster – introduction

Article

Where land meets sea, the Rena disaster – introduction

The resources in this collection are about where the land meets the sea. New Zealand has 15,134 km of coastline with extensive marine habitat. Land and ...

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Canterbury earthquakes

Article

Canterbury earthquakes

An earthquake near Christchurch in September 2010 started a chain of events still being felt years later. It caused extensive damage to property, and aftershocks also ...

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Where land meets sea, the <i>Rena</i> disaster – writer's insight

Article

Where land meets sea, the Rena disaster – writer's insight

On 5 October 2011, the cargo vessel Rena was grounded on the Astrolabe Reef off the Tauranga coast. The ship was carrying 1,368 containers, 1,700 tonnes ...

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Iwi and kaimoana

Article

Iwi and kaimoana

Ngā Iwi o Tauranga Moana (a collective group for Māori tribes in Tauranga) were deeply concerned when the Rena grounded on the Astrolabe Reef on 5 ...

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Cleaning up the oil spill

Article

Cleaning up the oil spill

On 5 October 2011, the cargo vessel Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef. The ship was carrying 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and about ...

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Pollution from <i>Rena</i>

Article

Pollution from Rena

The Rena disaster on 5 October 2011 impacted the surrounding environment of the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. The ship was carrying 1,368 containers – ...

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<i>Rena</i> bird recovery

Article

Rena bird recovery

Emma Sommerville had just arrived in the Bay of Plenty from Christchurch, after experiencing the Canterbury earthquake disaster, when the Rena ran aground. Having just completed ...

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<i>Rena</i> wrecked on reef: oil clean-up on-going

Article

Rena wrecked on reef: oil clean-up on-going

On 5 October 2011, Maritime New Zealand was called to respond to an ‘incident’ in the early hours of the morning. The 236 m cargo vessel ...

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Exercise Ruaumoko

Article

Exercise Ruaumoko

In 2008, scientists, Civil Defence, electricity companies, transport providers and government came together in a major exercise to find out how a theoretical volcanic eruption might ...

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Responding to <i>Rena</i>

Activity

Responding to Rena

In this activity, students consider short-term and long-term responses to an environmental disaster such as the Rena. Immediately following the grounding of the Rena on the ...

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Who’s on your team?

Activity

Who’s on your team?

In this activity, students work in small groups to select a 6-member disaster response team from a set of 12 biography cards. By the end of ...

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