Natural hazards such as flooding, coastal hazards, earthquakes, liquefaction, landslides, droughts, and wildfires can impact both the environment and our wellbeing. We cannot control the forces of nature, but we can reduce their impact by building our capacity to withstand and recover. Tasman District Council responds to natural hazards in a variety of ways. These include managing land and resource use, prevention or harm-reduction of the hazard, and emergency response to events.

Currently, Tasman District Council is working to improve our knowledge of local natural hazards. There is a significant programme of work happening around coastal hazards and sea level rise through our Coastal Management Project - Responding to Climate Change. In addition to this, we are reviewing our geological natural hazards (slope instability, earthquake faults, liquefaction); and looking to better understand the risk of wild fire in the district and what this means for planning. Council has an ongoing programme of flood and stormwater modelling.

We know from long-term temperature monitoring that Tasman is getting warmer. The effects of climate change increases the intensity and frequency of weather related natural hazard events such as flooding, drought, and erosion. Read more about climate change effects and the role of the Tasman Environment Plan here.

Anyone living in Tasman should be aware of natural hazards. As a council, we are improving our knowledge about local hazards and sharing that information with affected landowners and communities. This work will enable people with a stake in our district to understand the extent of the hazards we face, while we support communities to prepare and build their own resilience. The information we learn through the review will feed into our planning framework so we can better protect people and property.

The new Tasman Environment Plan will help to improve this response by taking into account our further identification of hazards and more planning around how we should adapt to and/or mitigate the risks we face. There will be opportunities for landowners and communities to come together through community engagement events over the next couple of years to learn about our natural hazards and what the implications may be for them. We will contact affected landowners directly once we have new natural hazards information available, and will publish details of any future community engagement events on this website, through Newsline and other communication channels.

In May 2022, we held interactive community webinars where we provided information around:

• the slope instability hazards review and associated mapping,
• a review of active earthquake faults within our district, and
• district-wide seismic liquefaction hazard mapping.

A recorded webinar is available on demand below.

Natural disasters can and do happen in Tasman. In some cases, such as an earthquake, there may not be time for a warning. For information on how to get prepared, visit Nelson Tasman Civil Defence.

Find out more about this topic at the links below.

• Natural hazards factsheet
• Coastal Management Project - Responding to Climate Change
• Earthquake faults in Tasman
• Liquefaction in Tasman
• Slope instability in Tasman
• Climate Change
• Nelson Tasman Civil Defence

In this episode of the Tasman Environment Plan podcast, TDC Policy Planner Diana Worthy talks hazards and climate change in the Tasman District.