Project AF8 - the South Island-wide efforts towards preparing for a powerful earthquake along the Alpine Fault - has released a series of new videos as it marks two years of preparation.
The project has now also completed its draft South Island Alpine Fault Earthquake Response (SAFER) framework, which puts into place procedures for when the enormous fault ruptures.
According to AF8 steering group chair Angus McKay, carbon dating shows the Alpine Fault last ruptured around 1717, and it was expected to rupture about every 300 years - meaning it is now due.
When it does rupture, the earthquake is expected to be magnitude 8 or above, which is likely to affect almost all of the South Island badly.
"Some of New Zealand's best scientific minds from universities, Crown Research Institutes and GNS Science have worked together to produce a credible scenario for what will happen with the next major earthquake on the Alpine Fault," Mr McKay said.
"We have used that scenario to work with our partners to identify the foreseeable impacts on communities and critical infrastructure across the South Island."
The videos give first-hand accounts of the impacts of the Canterbury Earthquakes, as well as insight into how Civil Defence actually responds to - or plans to respond to - such large events.
One of the major pushes from the group is for people to be prepared themselves, including keeping up-to-date emergency kits, having plans in place, and designing their homes and businesses to be resilient.
Finalised frameworks for the response to such an event will begin being implemented from July 1, and the framework will also be posted at projectAF8.co.nz.
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