Citation on the award of Life Membership, April 2024
Peter R Wood is conferred with Life Membership of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering for his significant contributions to earthquake science and emergency management in New Zealand. Peter has been actively involved in a wide range of NZSEE activities, in addition to being a major contributor to earthquake research at GNS Science and with emergency management planning at the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management. Peter’s joint degree from the University of Otago, and his Diploma from Imperial College, in Geology and Geodetic surveying, gave him a strong background in all matters to do with tectonic ground deformation.
Peter joined the NZ Geological Survey in 1972, where he led DSIR’s Earth Deformation Section from the mid 1980s to 1990. During his time in the NZ Geological Survey, he coordinated the NZGS response to the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake. Involvement in the NZSEE Learning from Earthquakes missions in the following years strongly influenced his understanding of earthquakes and their resultant effects; particularly the contrasts between the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquakes in California. It was following the latter of these two earthquakes Peter and other members of the team became operationally involved in the first use of the ATC placard system to triage buildings, and the subsequent implementation of this method in New Zealand became another area of passion as he actively supported NZSEE endeavours. Peter recognised the value of sound geotechnical databases before many others and worked in this area in relation to the Clyde Dam and the Lake Dunstan landslide remediation in the early 1990s. Peter had a career change in 1997, moving to the Ministry of Civil Defence Emergency Management (MCDEM) to further his strong interest in seeing that hazard mitigation knowledge was actually used for community and economic benefit.
In 2007, Peter was elected to the NZSEE Management Committee representing the Emergency Management Sector, and in March 2010 the Committee elected Peter as President of NZSEE. In September of 2010 the Darfield earthquake struck, beginning the Canterbury earthquake sequence. The Canterbury earthquake sequence has without doubt been the most significant practical experience of New Zealand earthquake effects for NZSEE. From September onwards, Peter was not only deeply immersed in the MCDEM response to the earthquake sequence, but all the related demands on the Society. He faced challenges that no other NZSEE President has faced and demonstrated remarkable personal commitment and tenacity as he attended to a wide range of duties and kept NZSEE at the forefront of the response. He facilitated and supported many post-earthquake research activities and developed strong and effective liaison with a range of international researchers and earthquake engineering leaders. In his role as President, Peter hosted various institutions within New Zealand and international ‘Learning rom Earthquake’ missions. This communication was invaluable to ensure the timely documentation of important information about the earthquake sequence as knowledge was gained, and to help support the thinking and direction of further investigation. This strong support of free flow of information included his very strong advocacy for the publication of technical papers on Canterbury’s earthquake experience in the December 2010 and December 2011 Bulletins. These Bulletins continue to be a significant source of information on the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence.
Peter was a strong advocate for the establishment of a “Clearinghouse” to allow those in the field during the day to meet in the evening to disseminate and discuss lessons with their colleagues and visiting scientific teams. This forum proved to be very powerful and appreciated by all those who attended. He also initiated the NZSEE Virtual Clearing House, which has been invaluable for information sharing following events such as the Kaikōura earthquake. Always keen to make sure that the critical learnings from earthquake events could be passed on to the right people, Peter worked with Local and Government agencies to ensure they were suitably prepared for future similar events, continuing this work into his role as Immediate Past President of the Society and beyond. These efforts have served to enhance New Zealand’s earthquake science and emergency management standing throughout the world.
Peter’s contribution and leadership across this wide range of activities has been extensive. His contribution was recognised by the Society in 2013 when he was conferred with Fellowship. The Society is now very pleased to further acknowledge Peter for his outstanding commitment to earthquake science and emergency management in New Zealand through this award of Life Membership.
