The Edgecumbe Earthquake - a review of the 2 March 1987 Eastern Bay of Plenty Earthquake

Preface

This report is more than simply an account of the record we assembled of the scientific, engineering, administrative, economic, insurance and social consequences from a moderately intense earthquake in an area predominantly rural but containing several very large industries. Guidance and benefit should flow from the overview afforded by such a collection of reported fact and informed opinion. These are our primary purposes: to identify lessons, giving prominence to what has hitherto been overlooked, and to present a reliable picture of the earthquake, with misrepresentations eliminated, so that reliable conclusions can be drawn.

It is just as important to say what this study is not. It is not a scientific or an engineering investigation in the ordinary sense. We report technical matters from the work of other people, and we have compiled a fairly comprehensive list of reference documents (which is appended to help people pursuing detailed information), but we did not initiate or commission any technical account of the sort generally appropriate for a scientific or an engineering paper or monograph.

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