Our role
Resilience at Natural Hazards Commission is about using an evidence-based approach to decisions about how and where to build in New Zealand.
Our country has a high risk of natural hazards. These include earthquakes, like the experienced in Christchurch and Kaikoura, tsunami and storms and flooding, as seen during Cyclone Gabrielle.
Natural Hazards Commission’s NHCover scheme provides insurance against these kinds of events, but doesn’t address the physical and social impact on people and communities. Our goal is for all New Zealanders to understand their risks and be better prepared for future events, so that the impact of these events is reduced.
Our vision for a resilient New Zealand is one in which the consequences of natural hazards are considered in everyday decisions about where to build and how to build. We want to see more resilient homes that are built on land not known to be at-risk of natural hazards like flooding or landslides.
Our resilience strategy
To help us fulfil our role we’ve developed the Resilience Strategy for Natural Hazard Risk Reduction. This guides our activities that contribute to achieving our resilience goal for New Zealand. These include:
- Building knowledge, data and insights on natural hazards impacts through research and loss modelling.
- Enabling, influencing and advocating for resilience through risk reduction and public education activities (link).
Read our Resilience Strategy for Natural Hazard Risk Reduction 2024-2029 [PDF, 8.1 MB] which sets out our ambition to address New Zealand’s resilience challenges.