Rachel Delaney from New Plymouth has a big emergency kit, updates it regularly and is totally prepared for an emergency.

Rachel Delaney will be a good friend to have if disaster strikes.

Bottles of water, tinned food, pet food for the cat, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, a gas stove, paper plates and cups, a radio, first aid kit, tent and "torches for Africa" are among the items filling bags and containers at the bottom of the linen cupboard in her New Plymouth home.

"I go through to see if the food items in there that don't last forever need to be swapped out," she says. "I add to it regularly."

Ross Giblin SH1 and the rail line north of Kaikoura were severely damaged in 7.8 earthquake.

There are also copies of important documents, pens and paper. And a fishing line, she says.

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"It makes me sad how few people do have emergency kits. All my friends know this is what I do and their emergency plan is to come to my house.

Supplied Massey University Associate Professor disaster mental health Sarb Johal says people minimise the risk they may face in order to keep living a normal life.

"I have enough to feed a few, but I had a cull recently. I'm adding to it again."

Despite New Zealand being a hotbed of seismic and volcanic activity, only between 30 to 40 percent of people have any kind of emergency kit or plan in place in case there is a natural catastrophe, whether that be earthquake, volcanic eruption or a major weather event.

Like many people around the country Delaney started an emergency kit at the end of 1999 in the hysteria that the Y2K bug would throw computers, and life as we know it, into confusion.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff.co.nz A close look at ground level destruction to State Highway 1 north of Kaikoura following the 7.8 earthquake.

The threat didn't eventuate, but Delaney kept her kit and has added to it and refreshed it regularly ever since.

It is probably safe to assume that many people have bought a few bottles of water and some cans of food in the wake of this week's events, but it might not be long before they're back in the pantry.

People go back to their normal behaviour reasonably quickly, because it's too difficult to think about risks the whole time, Massey University's associate professor of disaster mental health Sarb Johal says.

CHARLOTTE CURD/Fairfax NZ Mt Taranaki is an acrtve volcano that is more than 100 years overdue for an eruption.

"As an example, if people paid too much attention to the risks of driving no one would go anywhere."

After people pass a car accident they tend to drive a bit more slowly. That might last a few seconds, maybe a few minutes, but then people go back to their normal behaviour, he says.

"So people tend to discount risk, because it gets in the way of being able to actually live a functional life, particularly if it's a big risk and they feel like they can't do anything about it."

SUPPLIED Some of the contents of Becky Dodunski's emergency kit, including face masks in case Mt Taranaki blows its top.

Kiwis are often blase about the risks of living in New Zealand, because of a tendency to only look at New Zealand, Johal says.

"You know you live in an area that is not as bad as Wellington or not as bad as Christchurch.

"But if you expand your view to a global scale for a second - we live in a high seismic zone and there's not a lot of difference between Wellington and anywhere else in New Zealand.

SIMON O'CONNOR/Fairfax NZ Shane Briggs says Taranaki Civil Defence has just three full time employees.

"If you look it globally it's all high risk living in New Zealand."

There is nowhere in New Zealand where someone could say "no hazards apply to me", Johal says. But people do.

"Partly it's the 'I know this is going to happen, but it won't happen to me' phenomenon. We kind of acknowledge there is a risk, but we tend the minimise the risk that we personally may face."

EMMA DANGERFEILD/FAIRFAX NZ Kaikoura has been cut off since a 7.8 earthquake hit the region in the early hours of Monday morning.

Taranaki has its own vulnerabilities - coastal hazards, such as tornadoes and a volcano that is long overdue for an eruption.

The GNS Science website lists New Zealand's 12 volcanos - two of which are listed as category one, which is low level activity - White Island and Mt Ruapehu. Earthquake information on the site is changing by the minute.

New Zealand is one of the more seismically active countries in the world, GNS Science seismologist John Ristau says.

In the mid 20th century seismic activity quietened down, but things had picked up in the last few years, he says.

"It is New Zealand and you can have a major earthquake any time, any place. It doesn't have to be a magnitude 7 earthquake. The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake showed what can happen even if you have a moderate earthquake."

If there is a magnitude 6.2 quake in Fiordland no one takes any notice, but put it underneath a population centre and it's quite destructive, he says.

"For several decades New Zealand didn't have many major earthquakes and people got complacent. The Canterbury earthquake brought it to people's attention that this can happen anywhere, anytime."

But even knowing it could happen, doesn't mean people are rushing to be prepared.

A survey done by Taranaki Civil Defence found there were many reasons for this, including - hoping it won't happen, haven't got round to it, doubt there will ever be a big disaster and Taranaki is not in a high risk zone.

Taranaki Civil Defence senior emergency management officer Shane Briggs says the region doesn't have frequent events and those Taranaki does have are on a smaller scale.

"So that's their frame of reference for what to expect for the future."

There is the mountain, tornadoes, floods, he says.

"There is a high level of awareness of what the risks are to our communities, but a low level of preparedness."

Younger people tend to say they won't bother preparing, they'll just wing it, whereas the elderly assume someone will come and help, he says.

The survey asked people whose responsibility it was to be prepared and nearly 90 per cent agreed or strongly agreed it was theirs. But more than 40 per cent also thought there would be someone there to help.

Briggs says the more civil defence and being prepared are promoted the more people think there's a big organisation that will come to their aid.

"But there are 3.3 staff for all Taranaki and civil defence relies on a whole range of organisations to come and help who are also in the community and will be affected themselves."

It is just about having a plan and a conversation, he says.

"What will I do if I have no power? Children depend on me, what if I can't pick them up? It's too late to figure it out on the day when all communication is down and you can't talk to people. Have that conversation in advance."

In the South Taranaki town of Eltham Becky Dodunski has it all sorted.

She bought a survival bag off Trade Me from people who had been in the Christchurch earthquake and were moving overseas.

Her motivation was an earthquake followed by bad weather that blew roofs off houses in Patea, she says.

"It was three or four years ago. I also got the kit because we have two daughters and we are responsible for them. In the event of a big disaster their survival may depend on me being ready."

As well as the usual items Dodunski added face masks, in case Mt Taranaki blows its top, she says.

When the earthquake hit early Monday morning, she got the bag out just in case - it was good for her peace of mind.

The shakiest of isles

New Zealand has a long history of frequent and damaging earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Significant Earthquakes

Biggest earthquake, Wairarapa, January 1, 1855 - 8.2

Hawke's Bay, February 23, 1863 - 7.5

Murchison, West Coast, June 17, 1929 - 7.8

Hawke's Bay, February 3,1931 - 7.8 (256 deaths)

Wairarapa, June 24, 1942 - 7.2

Wairarapa, August 2, 1942 - 7.0

Edgecumbe, March 2, 1967 - 6.5

Inangahua, West Coast,May 24, 1968 - 7.1

East Cape, February 6, 1995 - 7

Gisborne, December 20, 2007 - 6.8

Dusky Sound, July 15, 2009 - 7.8

Canterbury, September 4, 2010 - 7.1

Christchurch. February 22, 2011 - 6.3 (185 deaths)

Cook Strait July 21, 2013 - 6.5

Grassmere August 16, 2013 - 6.6

Kaikoura, November 14, 2016 - 7.8 (2 deaths)

Volcanic Activity

Oruanui eruption of Taupo Volcano. The world's most recent super-eruption around 25,360 years ago.

10 June 1886: Mt Tarawera erupted, destroying the Pink and White Terraces and killing an estimated 153 people.

1854: Most recent eruption of Mt Taranaki

1914: Lahar kills 12 workers on White Island volcano. It remains New Zealand's most active cone volcano. It was in eruption continuously from December 1975 to September 2000 and still frequently erupts.

1945: Eruption on Mt Ruapehu directly led to lahar that caused the 1953 Tangiwai disaster in which 151 people died.

Mt Ruapehu has also erupted in 1995, 1996, 2005 and 2006.

Nearby Mt Ngauruhoe erupted 45 times in the 20th century, most recently in 1974.