Ten years since the Kaikōura Earthquake

At two minutes past midnight on 14 November 2016, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck North Canterbury. The rupture travelled across more than 20 separate faults over about 170km, jumping from one fault line to the next, and GeoNet describes it as one of the most complex earthquakes ever recorded worldwide. The shaking triggered tens of thousands of landslides, bringing close to a million cubic metres of material down onto State Highway 1 and the Main North Line and cutting Kaikōura off by road and rail.

Reconnecting the coast

The North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) Alliance was formed in December 2016, bringing the NZ Transport Agency and KiwiRail together with Downer, Fulton Hogan, HEB Construction and Higgins, supported by Aurecon, WSP‑Opus and Tonkin + Taylor. Limited freight services returned to the Main North Line in September 2017, and SH1 reopened north of Kaikōura on 15 December 2017, one year, one month and one day after the earthquake.

By then 1,700 people had worked more than two million hours on the recovery, and tourism spending in Kaikōura that December was estimated at NZ$9 million above the previous year. The alliance left Kaikōura in December 2020, crediting much of what it achieved to its partnership with Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura and the wider community.

Geovert's part

Geovert was first on the ground to make the area safe, and went on to work with the NCTIR design team, contributing construction methodology for slip sites north and south of Kaikōura. Our crews installed mesh, rock bolts, soil nails, anchors, and rockfall and debris flow barriers from rope access with helicopter support, keeping one lane of SH1 open throughout and, at several sites, working above active tunnel portals alongside other contractors. Seismic activity and weather kept enlarging the slips, so hazards and methods were reassessed as the work progressed.

Several sites finished early, allowing two lanes to reopen sooner, and SH1 and the rail corridor reopened without incident. NCTIR Alliance Manager Ruth Bullen recognised Geovert's contribution as raising the bar for rockfall best practice in New Zealand.

Looking back on our part

Our video looks back on Geovert's contribution to the Kaikōura rebuild.