Clutha River / Mata-Au
At ORC, we work with communities to make people more aware of natural hazards, so they can reduce the level of risk they face.
We also work with Otago’s district and city councils to manage natural hazards through collaborative projects and district planning.
Our Natural Hazards Database is an interactive tool that allows you to view the information we hold on natural hazards in the Otago region. We assess Otago’s natural hazards to determine the areas they could affect, who and what is exposed, and their level of risk.
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of river or stream (alluvial) sediments that form where streams emerge from hill country onto a valley floor. Alluvial fans can be formed by several geomorphic processes, which become hazards when they intersect people, property or infrastructure.
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and beach sediments by waves, tidal currents, drainage or high winds.
Earthquakes occurring both within Otago and beyond its boundary can affect people and property within the region.
We identify areas at risk of flooding from rivers and lakes around Otago.
The term landslide describes a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes, shallow debris-slides, and flows. We hold information on known landslides in the region.
A storm surge is a higher than normal sea level, due to changes in barometric pressures and wind, which can result in inundation of roads and coastal property over an extended period.
A tsunami is a series of waves caused when a large mass of earth on the bottom of the ocean suddenly drops or rises, rapidly displacing the water above it.
