National Resilience Monitor

New Zealand sits on the boundary of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates — one of the most seismically active zones on Earth. The country experiences around 14,000–15,000 earthquakes per year, of which roughly 100–150 are felt by people. The Alpine Fault, running 600 km along the South Island, is considered overdue for a magnitude 8+ rupture. Other major fault systems include the Hikurangi subduction zone (east of the North Island), the Wellington Fault, and the Wairau Fault.

A major Alpine Fault earthquake could cause widespread infrastructure damage across the South Island, with potential isolation of communities for weeks to months. NEMA's "AF8" scenario planning estimates up to 80% of South Island road bridges could be damaged. Full earthquake history is available at GeoNet.org.nz.

Currently, each of New Zealand's ~28 electricity distribution businesses (Vector, Powerco, Aurora, Orion, etc.) publishes outage data separately, often in incompatible formats. The Federated Outage Map project aims to aggregate these into a unified real-time feed accessible to the public and emergency management agencies.

New Zealand exports approximately NZ$50 billion in food and agricultural products per year, making it one of the world's most food-productive nations per capita. However, its domestic grocery market is highly import-dependent for processed and shelf-stable foods. The country imports approximately 15–20% of its total food supply by value, concentrated in staple foods and processed goods.

The primary food security risk in NZ is a prolonged disruption to shipping routes, particularly from Asia and Australia. NZ's geographic isolation means that a 14-day shipping delay is typical in any major port disruption, and most grocery distribution centres carry 4–6 weeks of stock in normal conditions.

Fertiliser import dependency is a secondary risk: approximately 90%+ of fertiliser used in NZ is imported (primarily urea from China and Russia, superphosphate from Morocco). A multi-year fertiliser supply disruption would significantly reduce farm production within 2–3 growing seasons.