New Zealand Geography

New Zealand is on of the large earthquake countries in the world.

In 1885, the capital of New Zealand, Wellington was damaged by big earthquake called Wairarapa earthquake. It was caused by fault that ran from Wellington's north to the east. It wasthe biggest earthquake in the hitory of New Zealand, and the scale is guessed to be magnitude 8.2 at least. And, the most popular earthquake is Nepiar earthquake occured in 1931. The deadliest earthquake destroyed the ciyies of Napier, and 256 people died in the magnitude 7.8. By the earthquake, 200 buildings were destroyed. Now, almost all buildings were built again and changed the new city of Napier. However, the fear of the damage of this earthquake remain people's minds. In Japan, Hanshin-awaji earthquake occured in 1995 is the most famous earthquake. The magnitude was 7.3 and a lot of people died. Actually, 20 % earthquake in 1990s occured in New Zealand and Japan. Therefore, these tow countries called "two large earthquake countries" in the world. It is important to prepare to earthquakes.