1 September 1888     Amuri earthquake
On 1 September 1888, at 4:12 AM, the northern South Island was shaken by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake that was felt from New Plymouth to Invercargill. The worst damage was in the Hope Valley and Hanmer region. During the quake the top 7.8 metres of the original stone spire of Christchurch Cathedral collapsed. The earthquake, centred near Amuri, was caused by movement along the Hope Fault in north Canterbury. Geologist Alexander McKay found farm fences there offset by several metres. This was one of the first documented examples of a large earthquake being caused by horizontal movement of the ground.

2 September 1950       Train derailed
On 2 September 1950, a goods train ran into a landslide on the line 8 kilometres north of Kaikoura. The engine and 16 wagons of the 40-wagon train were derailed. Drums of petrol on the train exploded and caught fire, and the local volunteer fire brigade put out the blaze by pumping water from a nearby creek. Flour, timber, potatoes, washing machines and Air Force equipment were strewn along the line. The train crew were unhurt.

 

 

23 September 1995     Ruapehu eruption
On 18 and 20 September 1995, after many years of little activity, small eruptions occurred in Crater Lake on the summit of Mt Ruapehu. The eruptions produced mudflows, but were not considered serious enough to shut down Ruapehu’s busy skifields. Thus, around 5 pm on 23 September, hundreds of skiers were on the mountain to witness a spectacular eruption from the Crater Lake at the mountain summit. Lahars—mixtures of water and volcanic debris—surged down three valleys. One mudflow narrowly missed a T-bar ski lift. Blocks of rocks were blown up to 1.5 kilometres from the crater, and steam and some volcanic ash rose 12 kilometres into the sky.