Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Faultlines: Earthquakes in Aotearoa New Zealand

Around 20,000 shakes are measured every year in Aotearoa New Zealand – about 55 a day – our whenua never stops shaking. Plates collide. Pressure builds. The land ruptures. How do we cope with living on such shaky ground?

You can also check out nhc.govt.nz and getready.govt.nz for more info about earthquakes and what to do if you’re in one.

  • Brick was made from liquefaction silt collected from Hagley Park

    The Canterbury Earthquake Collection on Collections Online

    The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 are among the most significant events in New Zealand’s history. From precious jewellery to tea-towels, Te Papa has been collecting objects and filming stories around the earthquakes. See some of the items on Collections Online.

  • A wooden table made of several pieces of wood that are all different lengths.

    Collecting and remembering: Christchurch earthquakes in our blog

    Following the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, Te Papa started collecting objects and filming stories around the earthquakes – particularly around public support, such as fundraising and spirit-raising initiatives, and around creative and entrepreneurial responses to the earthquakes. Read about some of the people and objects in our blog.

  • canterbury-earthquake_sure-to-rise_copy_wide.jpg

    Canterbury Earthquake Collection

    The Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 are among the most significant events in New Zealand’s history. Te Papa collected objects around fundraising, spirit-raising, and creative and entrepreneurial responses to the earthquakes.

  • People gather round a computer screen

    One shot: Capturing the heart of our new quake house

    Our Earthquake House has had a makeover. It includes a new immersive video experience featuring actors Rachel House and Rākau Tamaira. Making the new video was no simple task – particularly as the whole thing had to be filmed in one shot.

  • Disaster recovery for collections workshop, 2013. Photograph by and courtesy of Lynn Campbell

    Disaster recovery

    In the event of an earthquake, a fire, or a flood, your museum or gallery staff need to know how to keep themselves and visitors safe and protect and recover collections.

  • charlotte-painting-canoe-prow-te-papa-700.jpg

    Putting the pieces back together after the earthquake

    On 14 Nov 2016 an earthquake registering 7.8 on the Richter scale shook Wellington awake. All-in-all Te Papa’s buildings and its collection were virtually unscathed. Out of over two million collection objects, only nine were damaged.

  • A woman sits on the side of the river looking at a bridge that has collapsed after an earthquake.

    Earthquake expert Q&A

    In 2013, while there was a lot of earthquake activity in central Aotearoa New Zealand, we took the opportunity to put your questions about what's going on under our feet to our then-resident Subject Expert – Earth Science, Hamish Campbell from GNS Science.

  • A brass object that has dragons on it - each dragon has a ball in its mouth, there are frogs under each dragon, if the ball is on the frog's open mouth instead, the earthquake happened in that direction.

    Zhang Heng’s earthquake recorder

    More than 1800 years ago, Zhang Heng, a Chinese astronomer and mathematician during the Eastern Han dynasty, developed this device for recording the ground waves produced by earthquakes. It is the earliest known instrument of its kind.

  • Seeing earthquakes

    Dr Hamish Campbell shares his experience witnessing the green lights in the sky following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

  • Quake Braker exhibition

    Quake Braker

    Go underground to see the amazing Kiwi innovation that ‘puts the brakes on’ in an earthquake.

    On now

    Permanent exhibition

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

  • Visitors by the Earthquake House

    Education visit: Active Earth

    Primary, Secondary

    Delve into the inner workings of our amazing planet – from the inner core to earthquakes and volcanoes at the surface.

    Education visit

  • whale-entrance-minecraft-tepapa-2000x1232.jpg

    ShakerMod: Earthquake Encounters

    ShakerMod – play an educational Minecraft mod which simulates earthquakes and creates an experiential and playful approach to understanding how to protect our homes against them – Fix. Fasten. Don’t Forget!

  • building-an-earthquake-ready-future-banner-800x600.jpg

    He rauemi kaiako: Te waihanga i te apōpō, rū ana, takatū ana

    Primary, Secondary

    Mā te tūkanga o te whakaaro hoahoa a Stanford, ka taea ngā ākonga kia hanga putanga hei āwhina i ngā uauatanga mō te hāpori kua pā atu ki a rātou i muri tata mai i te rū whenua – ā-tāngata nei, ā-hanganga nei.

    Education resource