Accessibility

Web standards

The Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Āke has designed this website to be as accessible as possible for everyone.

The site aims to comply as far as possible with the following standards and guidelines:

This website should display correctly in all common browsers, operating systems and page resolutions; with and without scripting, images and stylesheets; on a PC or Mac; and for people with dial-up as well as broadband connections.

Adjusting the text size

This site has been designed to display correctly when the text size is increased.

To increase the text size: Hold down Ctrl and tap the + key.
To decrease the text size: Hold down Ctrl and tap the – key.

If you have an older browser, you may need to do this differently: look under the View menu (or similar) for ‘Zoom’ or ‘Increase text size’.

Help with downloads

If you’re having difficulty accessing or navigating any content on this website, please contact the webmaster for assistance.

Help with PDFs

This site provides publications and documents in ‘portable document file’ (PDF) format.

PDF files can be:

Downloaded to your computer. To save a PDF file, right-click on the document link and choose 'Save target as' from the menu that appears.
Viewed online in your web browser. Click on the link to open and read the document online.
Printed: Right-click on the document link and choose 'Print target as' from the menu that appears.

PDF readers

You need a PDF reader to view a PDF file online. There are a number of PDF readers you can use: a common one is Adobe Reader, which is available free of charge from the Adobe website(external link).

When you open a PDF, you’ll see options on the toolbar and menu that enable you to use the document more efficiently.

In Adobe Reader, you can:

Search for keywords: Press the ‘F’ key while holding down Ctrl. A panel will open to enable you to search the document for a keyword.
Scroll quickly through the pages: Click the arrow symbols on the toolbar to move back and forth through the pages.
Change the text size: Press your + or - keys to enlarge or reduce the text size. Alternatively, change the zoom percentage (eg, from 75% to 100%).
Copy text to paste into another document: Click on the Select Tool (arrow icon) on the toolbar - or find it in the Tools menu if it's not displayed on the toolbar. This changes the cursor to a vertical line. You'll then be able to copy and paste text from the PDF into a word processing document.

Please be aware of our copyright notice before copying our text for use elsewhere.

PDF accessibility

The latest versions of Adobe Reader include features that make it easier for people with disabilities to read PDF files. To set these up, go to Edit > Accessibility > Set up.

PDF troubleshooting

If a PDF fails to open

If you click on a PDF and see a blank page instead of it opening correctly, it's likely to be because you're using an older web browser that's incompatible with the PDF. To get around this problem, save the file to your computer then double-click on the saved file. It should now open correctly. (To save a PDF file, right-click on the document link and choose 'Save target as' from the menu that appears.)
PDF takes a long time to open: PDF file sizes (eg, '342 KB') are given as part of download links, so you can estimate how long a file may take to download. File sizes in mega bytes (MB) are large and will take longer to download, especially if you’re using a dial-up modem. As a rule of thumb: On a 56 K dial-up modem, 50 KB downloads in about 10 seconds. If you have broadband, files will download much faster.

All other problems

If you're using Adobe Reader, search the Adobe Reader Support Centre(external link) for a solution. If you're still stuck, contact the webmaster. Make sure you include the link to the page that has the PDF you're having problems with (copy and paste it from your web browser Address bar). Help with other file types. Microsoft Office documents. Some of the documents on this website have been created in Microsoft Word (.doc), Excel (.xls) or PowerPoint (.ppt). If you don't have this software, you can view Microsoft Office documents using Open Office(link is external) – a free open-source office software suite.

RTF files

You may come across RTF (rich text format) files on this site. RTF is an accessible format that can be opened with almost any word processing software and on almost any operating system.