Edgecumbe
| Edgecumbe | ||
| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 37 ° 59 ′ S , 176 ° 50 ′ E | |
| Region ISO | NZ-BOP | |
| Country |
 New Zealand
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| region | Bay of Plenty | |
| District | Whakatāne District | |
| Ward | Rangitaiki Ward | |
| Residents | 1 638 (2013) | |
| height | 7 m | |
| Post Code | 3120 | |
| Telephone code | +64 (0) 7 | |
| UN / LOCODE | NZ EDC | |
| Photography of the place | ||
 Monument in front of the Fonterra factory building in Edgecumbe |
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Edgecumbe is a place in the Whakatāne District in the Bay of Plenty region on the North Island of New Zealand . The place becameknown beyond the national bordersin 1987 through the Edgecumbe earthquake .
Origin of name
The name of the place was probably chosen based on Mount Edgecumbe , the 821 m high volcano , which is about 18 km southwest of Edgecumbe and is clearly visible from every point on the Rangitaiki Plain . The mountain itself got its name from James Cook , who visited the Bay of Plenty in October 1769 and saw the ridge from sea. He may have named the mountain after George Edgecumbe , an admiral in the British Navy.
geography
The place is located on the Rangitaiki River in the middle of the Rangitaiki Plain , 15 km west of Whakatāne and about 8 km south of the coast of the Bay of Plenty . Traffic Technically Edgecumbe at the New Zealand State Highway 2 connected which divides the city into two halves. The railway line, which ran parallel to State Highway 2 , was built in 1910 and is no longer in service.
economy
The place is economically determined by two factors. On the one hand, there is agriculture , which has concentrated on milk production in the vast, flat country , and on the processing of milk into milk powder and other products by the New Zealand-based Fonterra Group, which operates a factory in the town and thus in addition to agriculture has become the most important employer in the plane.
Floods
The region around Edgecumbe experiences economic impairments again and again from the recurring floods , although the frequency of the floods has decreased due to the construction of the two dams on Lake Aniwhenua and Lake Matahina . The region experienced the greatest floods in 1891 and 1925, and the last two major floods in July 2004 submerged around 17,000 hectares of land and in April 2017 the entire town. After cyclone Debby with its immense amounts of rain caused the Rangitaiki River to swell in such a way, the dam of the river broke on April 7, 2017 directly at the site and flooded the entire site and the landscape to the north. Comparative satellite images released by the Bay of Plenty Times on April 13, 2017 showed the full extent of the flooding.
Edgecumbe earthquake
On March 2, 1987, at around 1:35 p.m., an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter scale shook the Bay of Plenty , cut the power and sent people onto the streets in fear. Only seven minutes later, the second quake occurred, which should go down in the history of the place and the region with a magnitude of 6.5. The epicenter was between Thornton and Matata just under 15 km north of Edgecumbe . As a result of the shock waves , the earth broke open in different places. The longest fracture with 7 km originated 1 km southwest of Edgecumbe , created an offset of up to 3 m and caused the western part of the plain to drop abruptly between 1.5 and 2 meters.
Although the magnitude of the quake was not extremely high, comparable to other earthquakes in the country, considerable damage was caused by the shock waves running flat under the surface , which observers described as rolling. Edgecumbe , Te Teko , Kawerau , Matata and Thornton were the cities that suffered the most damage. About 50% of the houses in Edgecumbe were damaged. The paper mill in Kawerau , 18 km southwest of Edgecumbe , as well as the dairy plant in Edgecumbe were badly damaged. The Matahina Dam , 15 km south of Edgecumbe , was so badly damaged that it had to be emptied and the evacuation of 3,000 people was temporarily necessary. As a result of the earthquake, the dam had cracked and the supporting pillars had leaked, which made repairs necessary in 1988 and subsequent reinforcement of the dam in the late 1990s in order to withstand future stronger earthquakes.
Forewarned by the foreshock, no people were killed in the main earthquake and the four larger aftershocks above magnitude 5, but there were numerous injuries. The quake cost insurance companies NZ $ 315 million .
literature
- Edgecumbe and District Primary School (Ed.): Edgecumbe - The Heart of the Rangitaiki , 1914-1989 . Edgecumbe 1989 (English).
Web links
- Collections Online - Topic: Edgecumbe earthquake - Ta Papa, Wellington - (accessed January 28, 2010)
- The 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake - Te Ara - Encyclopedia of New Zealand - (accessed January 28, 2010)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2013 Census QuickStats about a place: Edgecumbe . Statistics New Zealand , accessed June 4, 2017 .
- ↑ Kawerau district . In: TeAra - Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed January 28, 2010 .
- ↑ Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed June 5, 2017 .
- ↑ Alistair I. McKerchar, Charles P. Pearson : Factors Causing flooding to be New Zealand's Number One hazard . National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research , Auckland February 2001 (English).
- ^ Rangitaiki Plains Flood Mitigation Project . Whakatane District Council , archived from the original June 14, 2013 ; accessed on January 17, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).
- ↑ John Edens : Edgecumbe and the Bay of Plenty have shaky, flood-prone histories . In: stuff - national . Fairfax Media , April 7, 2017, accessed June 5, 2017 .
- ↑ Jamie Morton : Edgecumbe flooding: As seen from space . In: Bay of Plenty Times . NZME. Publishing Limited , April 13, 2017, accessed June 5, 2017 .
- ^ Fault rupture, 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake . In: TeAra - Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed January 28, 2010 .
- ^ The Edgecumbe Fault . In: TeAra - Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed January 28, 2010 .
- ^ M 6.5, Edgecumbe, March 2, 1987 . GeoNet , accessed on January 17, 2016 (English).
- ↑ a b New Zealand Disaster - Earthquake: Edgecumbe . Christchurch Library , accessed January 28, 2010 .
- ^ Matahina Hydro Dam Seismic Hazard Assessment - New Zealand . Earthquake Engineering New Zealand , archived from the original on May 13, 2010 ; accessed on January 27, 2010 (English, original website no longer available).
- ^ The 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake . In: TeAra - Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , accessed January 28, 2010 .