Landslides in Wellington — They’re Going Downhill

Martha Schenk

On the morning of 22 January 2026, a disastrous landslide claimed the lives of six people in a Mount Manganui holiday park. Hours later in nearby Pāpāmoa, two more people died when another slope failed and crushed their home. Eight deaths in a single morning: a statistic at once shocking and strangely familiar in Aotearoa.

Research from GNS Science reveals that landslides are responsible for more deaths than earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, and tsunamis. The deaths make up 0.44% of the estimated 1800 that have occurred as the result of landslides in the last 160 years, cementing them as New Zealand’s deadliest natural hazard. 

Despite this, they are often underdiscussed and overlooked as hazards, considered by many as secondary to more dramatic, infrequent events.

In Aotearoa, landslides can be broadly defined as the downslope movement of rock, soil and vegetation. They can vary in size and speed, and are often called “slips” colloquially. Technically, they can include slides, falls, or flows. They may be triggered by rainfall or earthquakes, but also by human activity such as the loading or oversteepening of slopes by construction activities, vegetation removal, or leaking water pipes left without repair.

January’s recent tragedy took place in the Bay of Plenty, a region arguably more susceptible to landslides due to its high levels of intense rainfall. But Wellington is hardly immune. 

As Engineering Geologist Ann Williams explains: “(In Wellington) You mostly have greywacke, which is a fractured rock mass.”

“However, when it is completely weathered it becomes a soil, so you might have a shallow slide develop at the top of a slope in mostly soil like material, that then slides over a rock slope and takes rocks from the slope with it, and you end up with a debris slide, or a rock fall slide.” In other cases, deeper fractures combine with long-standing weaknesses to produce larger and more destructive landslides. 

“General triggers for landslides are things like heavy rainfall, earthquakes, or undercutting of a slope by earthworks or rivers,” Williams says. “But most natural slopes have marginal stability and much of New Zealand could be considered ‘prone’ to land slip”.

According to the Greater Wellington Regional Council’s hazard management plan, the highest-risk areas are slopes steeper than thirty-five degrees, gorges and coastal cliffs, altered or denuded hillsides, quarries, previously failed slopes, and places underlain by weathered or scattered rock. This reads less like a list of exceptions than a description of the city itself. Kelburn, Aro Valley, Newtown, Wadestown, Island Bay—suburbs thick with student flats—qualify on multiple counts. As does much of Te Herenga Waka’s property, including Kelburn Campus and accommodations such as the Waiteata Apartments, Kelburn Flats, and Everton Hall.

When contacted by Salient, the university said that it does not currently deem these residences susceptible to landslip risk and noted that preventative measures—engineering intervention, drainage management, and on-going visual inspections—are regularly undertaken. In 2025, a potential risk identified at the Waiteata Apartments resulted in the implementation of a new retaining wall. No landslides were recorded on university property that year. 

Students, meanwhile, inhabit a more ambiguous terrain than the university: aware, vaguely, of the hills but unsure what to make of them. A third-year geology student living at Everton Hall says she isn’t particularly concerned—“a lot of slopes are quite well planted or reinforced with concrete,”—though after storms “there’s always a shit tonne of debris.” She worries more about the Kelburn Campus cemetery, where the ground is steep and “not entirely consolidated.” 

A second-year english literature student in a university-owned Kelburn flat confesses, “I’ve personally never thought about a landslide,” though after last week’s storm she and her flatmates joked that a tree might fall on the house. 

A third-year psychology student at the Waiteata Apartments says she has “definitely thought about [the risk of landslips], looking at this big hill,” but wouldn't know what to do in the event of a landslide.

In Aro Valley, a second-year building science student describes her Adams Terrace flat: “Our backyard’s actually on a bit of a slant … We’ve had trees fall down the back of it.” When they moved in, she says, “we didn’t really think about the amount of risk that could come with it.” 

A third-year law student from Newtown admits that concerns about her house’s structural integrity during an earthquake or landslide “really heavily impacted my mental wellbeing” when she first arrived.  

In Wadestown, the suburb with the most slips in 2025 according to the Wellington City Council, a second-year English literature student told Salient that she feels safe at home, but that the roads nearby are frequently compromised. “There’s often floods and slips down by the Countdown,” she says. Bus routes are disrupted; supermarket access becomes uncertain. ”There are spots where I park my car that could get hit by landslips.”

On public land—roads, footpaths, reserves—landslides are managed by Wellington City Council, which spends roughly four to five million dollars annually on retaining-wall work. Remediation, according to the council’s website, may take anywhere from “a few months up to a few years.” Current stabilization projects include works in Churton Park, Mortimer Terrace, Grosvenor Terrace, and Onslow Road. Asked about budget and prioritization the council declined to elaborate, but confirmed that 505 slips were reported in the last year. That’s 1.38 slips a day!

The future promises more pressure, not less. A 2019 report prepared for the council by NIWA warned that increasingly extreme rainfall is likely to exacerbate slides and landslides. Ann Williams agrees—“With so much more intense rainfall, landslides are triggered much more frequently. A saturated landmass is more susceptible.” Recent earthquakes have shaken and loosened already fractured rock, causing rainfall to infiltrate more readily and hastening failure. A 2023 study in Geomorphology found that under high-emissions warming scenarios, the intensity of rainfall in New Zealand could trigger more landslides per storm. 

For those living in areas prone to landslides, recommendations of preventative measures include vegetating or hydroseeding slopes together by placing materials like mulch or coconut husk for added support, and ensuring roof gutters and drainage systems direct water away from slopes. 

It’s important to remain vigilant, especially during severe weather or seismic events. atch for new cracking of the ground, driveways, or retaining walls, as well as tilting fences or trees. Slumping or bulging ground at the base of a slope, sticking doors and windows, or gaps where frames are not fitting properly could also be early indicators of impending landslide risk. 

The sound of trees cracking or a faint rumbling, water appearing in places it usually does not, and the formation of new springs, seepages, and soggy ground are signs that a landslide might happen imminently, and you should evacuate immediately. 

NZ Civil Defence advises warning neighbours and helping others if you can and staying away from the landslide area until it has been cleared by authorities. Once evacuated, you should contact emergency services (111) before the local council (04 499 4444), or campus security (0800 842 8888 or 04 463 9999) if the slide is on university property. 

However, every student interviewed for this article admitted to limited confidence in identifying these warning signs. This is a clear indicator that more education and awareness of landslide risk is needed, both by the university and the government. Landslides continue to kill more of our people than any other natural hazard, and knowing what to look for and when to act could save you and your flatmates.