Ambassador Alvin

Tēnā koutou,

I am Alvin the LEARNZ ambassador. I go on all the trips with Shelley and help look after the other ambassadors from your schools. This is going to be an awesome field trip to Wellington.

You will find out more about how to be resilient to natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunami and floods and how location based information can help you to respond to emergencies.

I can't wait to head to Wellington, our cool capital city. Sign up your ambassador now so that I have some company on the trip.

See you soon,

Alvin.

Monday 28 August

Kia ora,

It wasn’t the best weather to be travelling in today but at least the flight north was mostly smooth and I had plenty of time to enjoy the friendly inflight service and eat lots of lollies!

By the time we reached Wellington it was raining. We headed into the city and went sight-seeing. It was interesting to walk along the waterfront and see which areas had been reclaimed. I wonder how these reclaimed areas will be affected by an earthquake?

Tomorrow we are going to find out more about how to find areas at risk from earthquakes and become more resilient to their effects.

See you in the morning,

Alvin.

Tuesday 29 August

Kia ora,

I find earthquakes fascinating so it was great to learn more about them today. It is incredible to think that Wellington is located on a major fault line. If the first people to live here knew about the fault I am sure they would have chosen to build somewhere else. At least today we have lots of technology available to locate and monitor earthquakes.

It was cool seeing the 3D modelling for earthquakes and how easily lots of information can be shared in one animation.

I am looking forward to finding out more about tsunami tomorrow.

See you then,

Alvin.

Wednesday 30 August

Kia ora,

Ever since watching footage from the tsunami that hit Japan back in 2011, I have been interested in tsunami. Today we found out why parts of Wellington are at risk from tsunami and what to do if there is a tsunami.

It is important to realise that there may be no warning for tsunami other than an earthquake that it strong or lasts more than a minute. It is really helpful to know where you need to evacuate to and in parts of Wellington blue lines have been painted on the roads to show where to move to.

Tomorrow we will be looking at flooding and how to reduce the damage floods can cause.

See you then,

Alvin.

Thursday 31 August

Kia ora,

It was a wet and windy day in Wellington today but this made it the perfect day to talk about floods. It was cool seeing all the different technology that is used to help measure, model and map floods.

It is good to know that experts are now able to predict flooding much more accurately and give people warning before floods hit. It was fun looking back in time at the Petone Settlers Museum seeing how the Hutt River had changed over time.

I now know a lot more about how to identify natural hazards and plan for them. I hope you have enjoyed the field trip as much as I have and can join us on another one soon.

Alvin.