List of disasters in New Zealand by death toll

This is a list of New Zealand disasters by death toll, listing major disasters (excluding epidemics and acts of war) which occurred in New Zealand and its territories or involved a significant number of New Zealand citizens, in a specific incident, where the loss of life was 10 or more.

List of disasters

Hastings Post Office after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake

Remnants of Flight 901 fuselage, 2005

Wreck of the HMS Orpheus

Most victims of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake died in the CTV Building's collapse

Tangiwai Memorial

Wreck of the Tararua

Inside the fissure formed in Tarawera's 1886 eruption

Salvage operations on the wreck of TEV Wahine

Ballantyne's fire seen from ChristChurch Cathedral

Seacliff asylum, before the fire

Hyde railway disaster memorial.

Restored grave of Dundonald's mate, Auckland Islands

Octagon building fire

Remains of sulphur mine, White Island

Deaths	Name or description	Type	Date	Location	Notes
257	Air New Zealand Flight TE901	Air accident	28 Nov 1979	Mt Erebus, Ross Dependency, Antarctica	Controlled flight into terrain
256[1][2]	1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake	earthquake	3 Feb 1931	20 km north of Napier
200+	1820s Southland Tsunami	tsunami	1820s	Orepuki Beach	exact number killed unknown but according to Maori oral histories greater than 200
189	HMS Orpheus	shipwreck	7 Feb 1863	off the Manukau Heads near Auckland
185[3]	February 2011 Christchurch earthquake	earthquake	22 February 2011	Christchurch
151	Tangiwai disaster	rail accident / lahar	24 Dec 1953	NIMT Whangaehu River bridge, between Waiouru and Ohakune	rail bridge destroyed by lahar from Mount Ruapehu
135+[4]	1st Little Waihi landslide	landslide	1780	Te Rapa/Waihi Village
131	SS Tararua	shipwreck	29 Apr 1881	off Waipapa Point
121	SS Wairarapa	shipwreck	29 Oct 1894	off Great Barrier Island
108–153[5][6]	Mount Tarawera eruption	volcanic eruption	10 Jun 1886	Mount Tarawera
87	Fiery Star	shipwreck	11 May 1865	240 km off the Chatham Islands
75	SS Penguin	shipwreck	12 Feb 1909	off Cape Terawhiti
68[7]	General Grant	shipwreck	May 1866	Auckland Island
65[8]	Brunner Mine disaster	mine accident	26 Mar 1896	Brunner
65[9]	2nd Little Waihi Landslide	landslide	7 May 1846	Waihi Village	Tribal leader Mananui Te Heuheu Tukino II and most of his family were killed in the landslide[10]
53[11]	TEV Wahine	shipwreck	10 Apr 1968	Barrett Reef, Wellington Harbour
52	City of Dunedin	shipwreck	20 May 1865	off Cape Terawhiti	There are estimates of between 250 and 600 passengers perishing, but these reports were 20 or more years later
51+	Blizzard and Flood of 1863	floods and blizzards	Jul 1863 - Aug 1863	Central Otago goldfields	The actual death toll was probably higher because of the transient nature of the miners and the ruggedness of the country
48	Featherston Prisoner of war camp riot	Riot	25 Feb 1943	Featherston, New Zealand
45	SS Elingamite	shipwreck	9 Nov 1902	off West Island in the Three Kings Islands
43[12]	Ralph's Mine	mine accident	12 Sep 1914	Huntly
41	Ballantyne's store disaster	fire	18 Nov 1947	Christchurch
40+[13][14]	Great storm of 1868, flash floods and 12 shipwrecks	storm	3 Feb 1868	Predominantly eastern areas of New Zealand	Death toll likely understated as impact on many Maori unknown
37	Seacliff Lunatic Asylum	fire	8 Dec 1942	Seacliff
34[13][15]	SS Taiaroa	shipwreck	11 Apr 1886	Clarence River mouth
34	Kaitangata Mine disaster	mine explosion	21 Feb 1879	Kaitangata
34[16]	Dunedin	shipwreck (presumed)	1890	between Oamaru and London
30	Marlborough	shipwreck (presumed)	1890	between Lyttelton and London
29[17]	Pike River Mine disaster	mine explosion	19 November 2010	northwest of Greymouth
29[18]	MV Kaitawa	shipwreck	23 May 1966	near Pandora Bank, Cape Reinga
26	Barque Maria	shipwreck[15]	1851	Cape Terawhiti
25+[19][20]	Storm of 1897	floods and shipwreck	16 Apr 1897	North Island	flooding at Clive, boating accidents, and the wreck of the Zuleika near Cape Palliser. 25 confirmed deaths and 6 unconfirmed
25[21][22]	MV Joyita	ghost ship	Oct 1955	En route from Apia, Samoa to Tokelau
24[23]	Assaye	shipwreck (presumed)	1890	between London and Wellington; wreckage washed up at the Chatham Islands 7 months after the ship left London
23	New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441	air accident	3 Jul 1963	Kaimai Ranges
22[24]	launch Ranui	shipwreck	30 Dec 1950	off Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty
21	Hyde railway disaster	rail accident	4 Jun 1943	near Hyde
21[25]	Kopuawhara flash flood of 1938	flood	19 Feb 1938	Destroyed the Kopuawhara railway workers camp
21[26][27]	brigantine Sophia Pate	shipwreck	Aug 1841	Kaipara Harbour
20[15]	schooner St. Vincent	shipwreck	1869	Palliser Bay
19[28]	Strongman Mine	mine explosion	19 Jan 1967	near Greymouth
18[29]	Canoe on Lake Rotorua	boating accident	16 Apr 1870	near Mokia Island on Lake Rotorua
18[30]	Canoe on Motu River	boating accident	4 Aug 1900	Motu River - 25 miles from Opotiki[31]	There were 16 children and 2 adults in the six person canoe
18[32]	Clyde	shipwreck	6 Nov 1884	Horseshoe Bay, near Akaroa, Banks Peninsula
18[33]	Lastingham	shipwreck	1 Sep 1884	Cape Jackson, Cook Strait
18[34]	schooners Enterprise and Tauranga	shipwreck	23 Jul 1870	between Cape Rodney and Sail Rock, Hauraki Gulf
17[35]	1929 Murchison earthquake	earthquake	17 Jun 1929	Murchison
17	Ongarue railway disaster	rail accident [13]	6 Jul 1923	Ongarue
16[36]	Capitaine Bougainville	shipwreck	3 Sep 1975	Whananaki
16[37]	1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai	air accident	2 Aug 1943	Whenuapai
15[38]	Brynderwyns bus accident	road accident	7 Feb 1963	Brynderwyn Hills
15[39]	MV Holmglen	shipwreck	24 Nov 1959	near Timaru
15[13]	Lockheed Lodestar airliner crash	air accident	18 Mar 1949	near Waikanae
15[40]	Derry Castle	shipwreck	20 Mar 1887	Enderby Island, Auckland Islands
14	Cave Creek disaster	structural failure	28 Apr 1995	Paparoa National Park
14[41]	Aramoana massacre	spree killing	13 Nov 1990	Aramoana, near Dunedin
14[42]	Two Hudson bombers lost off the New Zealand coast	air accident	21 Aug 1944	en route from Fiji	No. 4 Squadron RNZAF
14[43]		floods	17 Jan 1858	Hutt Valley
13	NAC Electra air crash	air accident	23 Oct 1948	on Mount Ruapehu
13[44]	SS Ventnor	shipwreck	28 Oct 1902	off Omapere, Hokianga
13[15]	Tasmania	shipwreck	1897	Mahia Peninsula
12[45]	barque Dundonald	shipwreck	7 Mar 1907	Disappointment Island, Auckland Islands
12[46]	Barque Lizzie Bell	shipwreck	24 Jul 1901	Waimate, Taranaki
12[47]	Cafe Chantant fire, The Octagon, Dunedin	fire	8 Sep 1879	Dunedin
12[48]	ferry Pride of the Yarra and paddle steamer Favourite	collision	6 Jul 1863	Otago Harbour
12[49]	Alcmène	shipwreck	3 Jun 1851	Baylys Beach, Kaipara
12[50][51]	Brigantine Rio Loge	shipwreck (presumed)	Jan 1909	Last seen in Cook Strait on 14 January, en route from Kaipara to Dunedin	May have caused the wreck of the Penguin a month later.[52]
12[53]	Cyclone of 1936	storm	1 Feb 1936	North Island and upper South Island	A tropical cyclone that originated near the Solomon Islands
11[54]	2012 Carterton hot air balloon crash	air accident	7 Jan 2012	near Carterton
11[55]	Glen Afton mine, carbon monoxide asphyxiation	mine disaster	24 Sep 1939	Huntly
11[56]	B17 bomber crash	air accident	12 Jun 1942	RNZAF Base Auckland at Whenuapai
10[57]	Aspiring Air Britten-Norman Islander, collided with terrain	air crash	8 Aug 1989	Upper Dart Valley
10[58]	Brig Australia	shipwreck	23 May 1873	off Cape Campbell
10[59]	Husky and Argo lost to storm in yacht race	shipwrecks	21 Jan 1951	between Wellington and Christchurch
10[60]	sulphur mine destroyed	lahar	10 Sep 1914	Whakaari/White Island

Significant international events involving New Zealanders

Confirmed Deaths	Name	Type	Date	Location	Notes
470[61]	Cospatrick	fire	17 Nov 1874	640 km south-west of the Cape of Good Hope, en route to Auckland	Only 3 people survived
100[62]	The Trevelyan (immigrant ship en route from Glasgow)	storm	3 Jun 1888	Presumed foundered off the South African coast, en route to Port Chalmers, New Zealand
89[63]	Knowsley Hall	shipwreck (presumed)	1879	between London and Lyttelton
79[64]	Matoaka	shipwreck (presumed)	1869	between Lyttelton and London
10[65]	Bere Ferrers rail accident, train hit NZ troops on tracks by platform	train accident	24 Sep 1917	Bere Ferrers, Devon, UK

See also

• List of disasters in Antarctica by death toll
• List of disasters in Australia by death toll
• List of disasters in Canada by death toll
• List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll
• List of earthquakes in New Zealand
• List of natural disasters in New Zealand
• List of New Zealand-related topics
• List of rail accidents in New Zealand
• List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll (worldwide)

References

1. Bateman New Zealand Encyclopedia, edition 4 (1995). Article: |earthquake 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, Hawke's Bay region, Napier
2. Welch, Denis (4 February 2006). "Shake, Rattle & Roll". New Zealand Listener (3430): 29–30. A larger death toll of 258 includes two missing, presumed dead.
3. "List of deceased – Christchurch earthquake". New Zealand Police. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
4. Waihi Landslide, GeoNet News, Vol. 2, February 2003, p. 7. Death toll calculated by subtracting death tolls for two later landslides (64 and 1 in 1846 and 1910 respectively) from the total of "more than 200" given for all three.
5. The eruption's death toll is uncertain. While 153 is a commonly quoted figure, only 108 named victims have been identified. Death list, Anheizen.com.
6. In 2007, the General Manager of the Earthquake Commission said that "... Ngati Hinemihi oral accounts put the death toll in the thousands." David Middleton (2007). A Roof Over Their Heads? The challenge of accommodation following disasters. (Accessed 2008-04-12.)
7. Five more died before the survivors were rescued 18 months later.
8. "Brunner Mine explosion". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
9. Lamorna Cooper, Hipaua Steaming Cliffs and Little Waihi Landslide, Tephra, Vol. 19, June 2002, 42-47.
10. Hura, Elizabeth. "Mananui Te Heuheu Tukino II". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved December 2011. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
11. The original Wahine death toll was 51; two names were added 22 and 40 years later. Three more people were killed by Cyclone Giselle elsewhere in New Zealand.
12. New Zealand Disasters - Mining: Ralph's Mine, Christchurch City Libraries.
13. New Zealand disasters timeline, Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
14. Great storm of 1868, flash floods and 12 shipwrecks
15. Disasters and Mishaps – Shipwrecks, from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966, updated 2007-09-18.
16. Dunedin, which cites W.H. Brett's White Wings: Fifty years of sail in the New Zealand Trade, Vol. I. 1925.
17. Beswick, Angela. "Pike River: Second explosion, no survivors". 3 News. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
18. "NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS AND TRAGEDIES - SINKING OF MV KAITAWA - 1966". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
19. "NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS - CLIVE FLOODS - 1897". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
20. The Wreck of The "Zuleika", Palliser Bay. Quotes from NZ Truth, 16 March 1976.
21. Field, Michael (6 March 2012). "1955 Pacific mystery to be finally marked". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
22. All 25 on board were missing when the boat was found, and are presumed dead.
23. "Assaye from England to Auckland 1874". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
24. "NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS - RANUI SINKING - 1950". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
25. New Zealand Disasters - Kopuawhara flood, Christchurch City Libraries.
26. Ryburn, Wayne (1999). Tall Spars, Steamers & Gum. Auckland, N.Z.: Kaipara Publications. p. 230. ISBN 0-473-06176-7.
27. "Not many remember the Sophia Pate".
28. New Zealand Disasters - Strongman Mine Explosion, Christchurch City Libraries.
29. Rotorua. Terrible boat disaster — Eighteen natives drowned, Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3953, 23 April 1870, Page 4
30. Casualties, Evening Star , Issue 11329, 25 August 1900, Page 8
31. "Sad boating disaster". The Daily Telegraph (9835). 7 August 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
32. Clyde, Dive New Zealand Magazine.
33. The Lastingham Wreck, Paul's Dive Planet.
34. New Zealand Historical Data - Ship "Tauranga"
35. Eileen McSaveney, Historic earthquakes - The 1929 Arthur’s Pass and Murchison earthquakes, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2007-09-21. Accessed 2008-01-05.
36. Whananaki Coastal Walk
37. Livingstone, Bob (1998). Under the Southern Cross: The B-24 Liberator in the South Pacific. Turner. p. 115. ISBN 1-56311-432-1.
38. New Zealand Disasters - Brynderwyns bus accident, Christchurch City Libraries.
39. Disasters and Mishaps – Shipwrecks - Holmglen, from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966, updated 2007-09-18.
40. "The Derry Castle". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
41. [13 murder victims plus perpetrator]
42. A. H. McLintock, ed. (1966). "Pre-war and Wartime Accidents". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
43. Weekly Feature - Early settler had leading role, Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 May 2003.
44. Disasters and Mishaps – Shipwrecks - Ventnor, from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966, updated 2007-09-18. The cargo included the remains of 499 Chinese miners who had died in NZ and whose remains were being repatriated. The wreck was discovered in December 2012.102-year-old SS Ventnor shipwreck mystery revealed.
45. Three more died before being rescued.
46. "NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS - BARQUE LIZZIE BELL SINKING - 1901". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
47. "NEW ZEALAND DISASTERS - OCTAGON FIRE, DUNEDIN - 1879". Retrieved 15 September 2016.
48. Wreck information, Quay Stuff.
49. Wreck of the Alcmène
50. "The Rio Loge". Press. Wellington. Press Association. 13 February 1909. p. 11. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
51. "Supposed Hull of Rio Loge". Poverty Bay Herald. 22 February 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
52. Stacey Wood; Greer McDonald (11 February 2009). "Search for wreck of Penguin". Dominion Post. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
53. Eight destructive New Zealand storms, Marilynn McLachlan, New Zealand Herald, Auckland, 4:00 PM Friday Mar 14, 2014 Retrieved 26 January 2016
54. "Hot air balloon crash near Carterton kills 11". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
55. Sherwood, Alan & Phillips, Jock. "Coal and coal mining". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
56. Lomas, David (10 April 2010). "Secret deaths". The New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
57. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
58. "Loss of the brig Australia, at Cape Campbell". Grey River Argus. 7 June 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
59. "Yacht Wrecked in Ocean Race". The Press. 29 January 1951. p. 6. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
60. A death toll of 12 is sometimes given. This may include two miners who died during the year before the lahar.
61. John Wilson, The voyage out - Fire on the Cospatrick, from Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2007-09-21. Accessed 2008-05-20.
62. The Mercury newspaper (Hobart, Australia), , Tuesday 30 October 1888
63. Board of Trade Wreck Report for 'Knowsley Hall', 1880, Board of Trade, 1880. Accessed 2008-05-21.
64. The Missing New Zealand Ship 'MATOAKA', which cites The Times, London, 22 March 1870, page 9. Accessed 2008-05-21.
65. "Devon - BBC News". Retrieved 15 September 2016.

External links

• New Zealand disasters timeline, Ministry for Culture and Heritage
• Natural hazards and disasters, Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• Shipwrecks, Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand