Waihi landslide fears prompt Lake Taupo no-go zone

More quakes hit evacuated village

Waihi Village - site of evacuation

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WAIHI: The historic village the ancestral base of Taupo iwi Ngati Tuwharetoa is on a seismic fault line in an area of known instability near the Hipaua Cliffs geothermal area at the southwest corner of Lake Taupo.

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A no-go area is likely to be imposed on the southwest edge of Lake Taupo later today because of the threat of a major landslide above Waihi Village, Civil Defence says.

Residents were temporarily allowed back in this morning to feed pets, fetch personal belongings and pray in the church.

Two more earthquakes shook the central North Island last night but there has been no major reports of damage at Waihi Village.

Residents of the village are barred from their homes until Friday due to fears of a landslide after a swarm of earthquakes.

A handful of residents briefly returned home around 8am today, with some needing to feed pets and two men offering a karakia at the Catholic church.

This morning at about 4.50am an earthquake measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale at a depth of 5km shook the area, while at about 8.40pm last night a 2.8-magnitude earthquake at a depth of 3km was felt.

There had been no reports of damage, a northern police communications spokesman said this morning.

Civil Defence and Emergency Management staff intend to conduct an aerial survey this afternoon. Senior technicians from GNS Science are also monitoring the area.

The historic village - the ancestral base of Taupo iwi Ngati Tuwharetoa - is on a seismic fault line in an area of known instability near the Hipaua Cliffs geothermal area at the southwest corner of Lake Taupo.

Sixty people - including paramount chief Te Heuheu Tukino II - were killed in the village after a landslide in 1846.

About 50 residents were evacuated by authorities last night as a precaution.

State Highway 41 was blocked between Tokaanu and Pukawa, restricting access to the village.

Most residents left voluntarily, although about six were reluctant to leave. Most were staying with relatives.

The town had been evacuated until Friday, civil defence co-ordinator Shamus Howard said, and a local state of emergency had been declared for the Turangi-Tongariro area to keep people away.

Seismologists and civil defence staff are monitoring the area after increased seismic and geothermal activity raised the risk of a major landslide above the village.

There was concern that more earthquakes might dislodge boulders and trees, causing water to build up in blocked streams.

Waihi Village residents reported tremors and large boulders coming loose in streams above the village.

Cracks had appeared in marae walls and hot water springs had been found on the lake edge.

People living nearby in Tokaanu had reported cracked windows and foundations, shelves rattling, and paint and plaster coming off walls. Bird life had disappeared. A stream mouth at the village, near a waterfall, had shifted 40 to 50 metres.

Mr Howard said there were some reports of streams drying up and of other spots where streams started to flow where there were none before.

GNS Science vulcanologist Brad Scott said two large earthquakes on Saturday, measuring 4.3 and 4.4 magnitude, were the biggest recorded in the area in the past 10 to 15 years.

A swarm of hundreds of small earthquakes had been recorded in the area in the past seven days.

- with NZPA