Rivers gone rogue: earthquakes shake up flood risks

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-05-05 09:22

New Zealand

Image taken and provided by Environment Canterbury.

Earthquakes can make rivers change course abruptly and flood hazard planning needs to take this into account, warns new research. Using the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake as a case study, New Zealand scientists modelled what would happen when a major river is disrupted by about 7 metres vertically and 4 metres horizontally following an earthquake, finding that nearby low-lying areas could become more vulnerable to flooding. They suggest that ignoring earthquake impacts on rivers could underestimate future flood risks, but more accurate flood hazard models can be developed to help communities prepare for future natural disasters.

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Journal/
conference: Science Advances

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Canterbury, GNS Science

Funder: Funding: This work was enabled by funding provided by the New Zealand Earthquake Commission grant to T.S.; a University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship to E.M. (née Murray); and the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment Endeavour Fund grant Rapid Characterisation of Earthquakes and Tsunami and through contract C05X1702 to GNS Science.

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