This will be set in 1931 Hawke’s Bay, to give our visitors a taste of what happened when Te Matau-a-Māui was rocked by a 7.8 earthquake at 10.47am on Tuesday February 3.
With an epicentre 20km north of Ahuriri/Napier and at a depth of about 16km, it was felt across the region – in Ahuriri as a terrific upthrust, in Heretaunga it was more of a corkscrew twist, and across Te Matau-a-Māui people found it impossible to stand.
Obviously for health and safety reasons we will not be replicating a shake experience of that magnitude, but the experience will give you a sense of what it feels like - without the danger.
This exciting project would not be possible without our partnership with the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake, which has sponsored the creation of the shake house at MTG.
This sponsorship opportunity has been so important for us, giving us the opportunity to elevate our earthquake gallery, and providing a much deeper level of learning for our visitors. An important part of the shake house will be the associated education programme, which will teach our tamariki about the ongoing risks in Aotearoa and Hawke’s Bay in particular.
Most importantly, this new experience will help educate tamariki and all our visitors about what you can do to better prepare your home and protect your whānau when another significant earthquake happens.
This project has involved collaboration with multiple parties: the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake which provided the sponsorship funding and helped us with messages for the experience; Gibson International, who we engaged to develop the concept and complete the build; and local kaumātua who generously provided mātauranga Māori and local pūrākau/stories.
East Coast LAB and Hawke’s Bay Emergency Management also provided advice on science and emergency messaging. As always, we’re very grateful for the support and advice we get from partners, advisers and the wider community as we develop exhibitions.
Creating the shake house has been in the pipeline for more than a year and is now nearly at fruition. Next week the component parts will arrive, and the house will be put together in the gallery space and tested over the following week. You’ll be able to experience this first hand when the gallery is reopened at 5.30pm on June 27 as part of Napier City Council’s Matariki evening.
Shockwave will share more stories from across the region, include a bit of the geological science, Rūaumoko’s role in creating earthquakes, how to prepare for a quake and what to do in a quake. While the shake house experience is primarily focused on how to prepare your home, there’ll still be strong messaging elsewhere in the gallery on “drop, cover, hold” and “if long and strong, get gone”.
We hope once you’ve been through our new gallery and experienced the shake house you will take home and apply the key Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake messages to “fix, fasten, don’t forget” and “protect your home, protect your whānau”.
