A snow-topped volcano that is spouting volcanic ash and smoke.

Active land: Natural events in Aotearoa New Zealand

Restless whenua, strong people. Rūaumoko, atua of earthquakes and volcanoes, lays his challenge – his restless rumblings present us with taongaas well as hazards. A country where colliding and subducting plates cause quakes, volcanoes, tsunami, and landslides.

We live here and through mātauranga, ingenuity, and manaakitanga, we create resilient buildings that bend with quakes, speedy large-scale responses, and community action.

The resources below are in addition to the forthcoming touring exhibition Rūaumoko: Restless land.

Header image: Detail of Mount Ruapehu Eruption, June 1996. Photo by Lloyd Homer/ GNS Science (3561)

Erupting whenua: Volcanoes and geothermal activity

An illustration of an ash volcano exploding over landscape and lakes

Taupō supervolcano and caldera

Our biggest volcano isn’t a cone. It’s Lake Taupō, formed about 25,500 years ago in the massive Ōruanui eruption.

Visit Active Land in Te Taiao | Nature

Enter the realm of Rūaumoko, god of volcanoes and earthquakes, and explore the geological forces that shape our shaky land and experience what an earthquake feels like in our quake house in Te Taiao | Nature.

A black and white photo of a massive amount of smoke coming out of the top of a mountain.

Volcanic eruptions in Aotearoa New Zealand

Life can be hazardous in Aotearoa New Zealand, and we have earthquakes, volcanoes, and thermal activity to prove it. Read about some of the natural hazards of living in a land that straddles the boundary between two of the Earth’s great slabs of crust – the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates.

Using museum collections to solve the Pink and White Terraces mystery

Scientist and aspiring field art historian George Hook shares his story on how he applied new methodology to help pin down the location of the iconic Pink and White Terraces, lost to the world with the Mt Tarawera eruption of 1886.

1,500 mud pools: Theo Schoon’s geothermal photographs

2018 saw the end of a four-year project to digitise nearly 1,500 Theo Schoon photographs of bubbling mud and thermal landscapes. Lucy Jackson and Archivist Jennifer Twist share some details of this monumental project and how they found a fondness for mud.

Shifting whenua: Earthquakes and land that moves

An aerial photo of a city in ruins after an earthquake.

Faultlines: Earthquakes in Aotearoa New Zealand

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

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.

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!

Halting the jolts: How Te Papa resists earthquakes

How did Te Papa survive the Kaikoura earthquake nearly unscathed?

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

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

Active thinking: What does being prepared look like?

A partial satelite view of Aotearoa New Zealand with some design brackets on top of it.

Watch: The Active Land talks

The Active Land talk series hosted at Te Papa highlights the diverse range of cutting-edge research into natural hazards happening in Wellington. In partnership with the Natural Hazard Commission (NHC) Toka Tū Ake.

An emergency kit with the contents on display around the bag.

Earthquake resources for Aotearoa New Zealand

Explore resources for earthquake preparedness, what to do during and after an earthquake, and how and why earthquakes and other disasters happen in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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

Disaster planning and recovery

Be ready for earthquakes, fires, and floods. Protect your staff, visitors, and collections.

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

Illustration of Te Papa with a number of other buildings in the background

Teaching resource: Building an earthquake ready future

Primary, Secondary

Using the Stanford design process, teach students to create resilient communities that can deal with the effects of earthquakes when they happen – both social and structural.

Education resource

Active people: Communities responding to natural events

Student volunteers smile with other members on the public

Watch: Community responses to the Christchurch earthquake

Watch a series of interviews about creative and community responses to the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand.

Two women in masks are cleaning a woven panel damaged with mud.

Mana taonga in action: Cyclone Gabrielle recovery in Ngāti Kahungunu

Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 brought heavy rainfall, strong winds, and storm surges, causing widespread flooding, landslides, and power outages in Taitokerau, Tairāwhiti, and Te Ika-a-Māui. Local iwi and hapū suffered much damage – some irrevocable – causing long-term impacts on the communities. Head of Mātauranga Māori Migoto Eria and Curator Mātauranga Māori Amber Aranui went to help out at four marae in Ngāti Kahungunu.

People standing on a grassy field with a fence. One person is talking and gesturing to the people. It is early morning and the shadows are long.

Cyclone Gabrielle – reflecting one year on

One year on from Cyclone Gabrielle’s devastation over parts of the North Island, Mātauranga Māori Curator Amber Aranui thought it poignant to reflect on the year, what has taken place and where communities are now, and how Te Papa continues to support them. Here she focuses on her own experiences with the hapori she is connected to, Omāhu in Hawke’s Bay.

Community stories: Taking action for nature

River cleaners, tree planters, possum trappers, and climate crusaders. Explore stories from around Aotearoa New Zealand of communities taking care of their natural environment.

Aerial photo of an island showing dense housing, with the sea level around the island low

Co-collecting climate change in Tokelau: Project IKA

Pacific curator Rachel Yates introduces a co-collecting project that took Te Papa to Tokelau’s three low-lying coral atolls in the South Pacific to document the effects of climate change.