For an Irishman having immigrated to New Zealand just over a year ago, there are many elements of life here that I have found strange, Feijoas, the feeling of being at the end of the world, Tuis, Kiwis (both varieties) and Kakapos as well as the world’s greatest rugby fans.
However, the constant risk of earthquakes is something else. On one of my first days at our Wellington office I enquired as to what the big orange cabinet was for. “It’s emergency supplies in case of an earthquake”, was the response and I realised Kiwis take more than just rugby seriously. The sense of helplessness and fear generated by the Kaikoura earthquake and aftershocks have been a first; between calls from concerned friends and family at home, we were glued to the GeoNet app on our phones.
However working with data every day to derive insights for our customers inevitably led to playing with earthquake data, perhaps seeking comfort from being able to visualise and track what was happening. So we have concentrated some of this years publicly available information into an easy to understand tracker, thinking that others might find this interesting.
Cheers,
Gerard