In 1983, I received a grant from the National Science Foundation to spend a year in New Zealand working with the New Zealand Geological Survey to better understand reverse faults affecting new hydroelectric power projects in the South Island. New Zealand geologists understood very well the hazard from strike-slip faults, and I had experience with reverse faults in southern California. My New Zealand counterpart was Kelvin Berryman, who put me to work on a fault impacting a dam proposed by the Ministry of Works and Development.

I quickly found that the Kiwis are quick learners, and I found myself learning as much from them as they learned from me. I also found that New Zealanders are as aware of earthquake hazards as my California colleagues, and their awareness includes strong building codes and a strong background in earthquake studies, not only at the Geological Survey offices north of Wellington but at the universities, including Victoria University of Wellington.

The reason for their awareness is found in their earthquake history. New Zealand was struck by major earthquakes in 1848, 1855, 1888, 1929, and 1931. The 1855 West Wairarapa earthquake on a strike-slip fault east of Wellington had a magnitude of 8.2, larger than any earthquakes in the past 150 years. Sir Charles Lyell, one of the founders of active fault studies, wrote about this earthquake in the twelfth edition of his textbook, Principles of Geology. The surface fault rupture associated with this earthquake is very well exposed in the Wairarapa Valley, east of the capital city of Wellington, and over the years many geologists have taken field trips to view this fault.

The country was thinly populated during most of the period prior to World War II, and so losses from these earthquakes, although locally severe, did not affect the economy of the nation. But during the summer of 1942, the Wairarapa Valley was struck by two earthquakes, the largest of magnitude 7.2, and hundreds of homes were severely damaged. The earthquakes took place during the darkest days of World War II, which was being fought in islands to the north, and there was little money available for reconstruction.