Ngā taunaki kei Te Oko Portal data sources

The Natural Hazards Portal brings together natural hazard information from the Natural Hazards Commission and other organisations. This page explains where the Portal's data comes from, how it is processed and displayed, and other important considerations.

The Portal includes two main types of information:

1. Settled EQC/NHC natural hazard claims: Date of damage 1 July 2024 onwards: Claims lodged under the Natural Hazards Insurance Act 2023 are known as ‘NHCover’ claims. Date of damage prior to 1 July 2024: Claims lodged under the Earthquake Commission Act 1993 are known as 'EQCover' claims.
2. Natural hazard maps (pilot): Maps showing where different natural hazards could occur in the Bay of Plenty region (based on currently available information). The natural hazards currently shown are:
   • Active faults
   • Earthquake shaking
   • Liquefaction
   • Tsunami
   • Volcanic activity
   • Geothermal activity

The Portal shows information about settled natural hazard claims on residential properties from 1997 to the present. Claims lodged before 1 July 2024 were made to the Earthquake Commission (EQC); claims from that date onward are with Natural Hazards Commission. The Portal includes the property address and title, event type, event date, and whether the claim was for land damage, building damage, or both.

To appear on the Portal, a claim must be:

• lodged since 1997
• a closed claim where EQC or NHC accepted liability for at least part of the claim
• for damage from an earthquake, landslide, tsunami, hydrothermal activity, or volcanic activity (building or land damage), or from a storm or flood event (land damage only)

If you need more detail about a specific claim, you can request more detailed information through the Natural Hazards Commission websiteopen_in_new.

The claims information shown in the Portal comes from the NHC claims systems and is presented geospatially so it can be viewed on the map and searched by address.

Claims data is updated monthly. The date the claims data was last updated is shown on Property and Place pages.

A residential property with no claims history on the Portal does not mean it has never been damaged by a natural hazard. The owner may not have lodged a claim, the damage may have occurred before 1997, or the claim may not have met the criteria for settlement. Claims data should not be treated as a complete record of natural hazard damage.

Some claims cannot be reliably matched to an address and may not appear on the Portal. The number of unmatched claims is small but means the Portal may undercount claims for some properties or areas.

To display claims on a map, they are linked to a reference dataset of Cotality (formerly CoreLogic NZ) addresses and coordinates, and to property boundaries.

If you believe there has been an error, and incorrect NHC claims data is linked to a property, please contact the Natural Hazards Commissionopen_in_new for the data to be reviewed.

The Natural Hazards Portal is piloting the display and use of natural hazard maps from the Bay of Plenty region. These maps show where different natural hazards could occur based on currently available information.

The natural hazard maps shown on the Portal have been selected because they align with the natural hazards covered by the Natural Hazards Insurance Actopen_in_new. Flood and landslide maps will be added to the Portal at a later stage.

The pilot is also testing how regional-scale hazard data can be displayed and expanded to other regions over time. Natural hazard maps are not a prediction of what will happen, and they do not capture every detail about a specific property. For more information on natural hazards, see the Earth Sciences New Zealandopen_in_new website.

The natural hazard maps shown on the Portal come from councils and Earth Sciences New Zealandopen_in_new. Follow the links in the tables below to the original data sources to understand more about what the data represents, how it was created, how it should and should not be used, and any limitations associated with it.

Each natural hazard dataset has its own licence and reuse conditions. Some datasets are available under Creative Commonsopen_in_new licences (for example CC BY 4.0 or CC BY NC 4.0); others are available under bespoke non-commercial terms set by the data provider - see the individual source links for full licence details.

Earthquake-related hazards

Tsunami

Volcanic and hydrothermal activity

Reference data

Natural hazard maps are produced at regional scales and are not suitable for site-specific assessments of an individual properties. If you need a site-specific assessment, you can consult a suitably qualified professionalopen_in_new.

The natural hazard maps reflect data, information and scientific understanding at the time they were produced. The absence of a natural hazard maps at a location does not mean a natural hazard is not present. Natural hazard layers are updated on the Portal when new versions are published by the source agency.

Natural hazard datasets feed into three aspects of the Portal:

• Interactive maps display natural hazard layers in the context of property boundaries and claims locations.
• Property pages may indicate whether a natural hazard could affect the area around a property.
• Place pages indicate whether a natural hazard is (potentially) present in a suburb or territorial authority area.

The Portal avoids making significant modifications to the underlying datasets. Any adjustments (for example, map colour changes) are verified with the original data providers to maintain accuracy. Any adjustments to how data is presented are made to improve clarity and usability, while preserving the accuracy and intent of the original datasets.

To display claims on a map, claim addresses are matched to a reference dataset of structured addresses and coordinates.

Multi-unit buildings (such as apartment buildings or townhouse complexes) can have complex insurance arrangements, including body corporate policies. This can make it difficult to show claims information at the level of an individual unit. Where a claim relates to an individual unit, the Portal aims to show it against that unit. Where a claim is made by a body corporate, it may not be clear which part of the building or complex was affected. In these cases, building and land claims may appear against each unit.

Claims information and address matching

All NHC claims information goes through an address matching process, which means some claims may be linked to the wrong address or may not appear as expected. If you believe incorrect claims information is linked to your property, please contact the Natural Hazards Commissionopen_in_new so the data can be reviewed.

Multi-unit buildings and shared property

Multi‑unit buildings (such as apartment buildings or townhouse complexes) can have complex insurance arrangements, including body corporate policies. This can make it difficult to show claims information at the level of an individual unit. Where a claim relates to an individual unit, we aim to show it against that unit. Where a claim is made by a body corporate, it may not be clear which part of the building or complex was affected—in these cases, building and land claims may appear against each unit.