When we first arrived in NZ we were shocked to see adverts on the TV and radio, and see billboards advertising that we should 'get ready' for a natural disaster. This isn't something we were used to with coming from the UK. 
Over the years New Zealand has had to deal with some pretty devastating earthquakes. The biggest one being a magnitude of 8.2, at Wairarapa on 23 January 1855.
Below is a picture showing the raised platforms at Turakirae Head which mark old shorelines (visible as pale bands). The first shoreline inland from the present day coast is where the shoreline was in 1855, before the area was uplifted by the Wairarapa earthquake. 
However the earthquake list is huge with the most recent being Edgecumbe, 2nd March 1987 which measured a magnitude of 6.1. This being the most memorable for people of today, you can actually see and feel what it must have been like in the simulation Earthquake House at Te Papa. 
If you check out Geonet that also you a list of all the earthquakes that happen daily, and there are sometimes more than one a day. Michael has felt a few at work before and said it was quite a surreal experience.
However though Earthquakes are not the only natural disasters that can occur here, there is also the threat of volcano's, landslides, tsunamis and more recently to hit New Zealand - Tornadoes. 
Also sadly as of this morning there has been a state of emergency declared for the high northland of New Zealand due to the ferocious storms that are raging there.
And co-incidentally (or not) we today received this in the post. It's basically a letter and form advising you that you need to be prepared, there is a list of all the things that you should buy as a survival kit, one kit in case you are cut off from everyone for up to 3 days and the other is a take-away kit should you need to evacuate your home.
In one way it's really scary to think that these types of things may happen, and a worry when you have a house that is perched on the side of a valley (most Wellington houses are). I am also concerned about what we would do if something was to happen in the middle of the night, I worry about Michael being in the city at work (which is right on the fault line) and I worry about being cut off from Bethany if she was at Kindi (although they also have their own survival procedures).
But I do feel more 'prepared' should something happen. I am aware of what needs to be done and how we could survive if something big came along. I don't know what happens in countries like America where all of these things are also an every day reality, but I know that in the UK it isn't something publicised and I really think it should be, maybe then people would be better prepared.
It's an interesting one, and although at first it was quite a stressful thing to think about, it's also something I think everyone in the world should be prepared for, especially with the way the world is today.
Even more so when Mother Nature isn't the main one dominating destruction anymore.
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