Liquefaction can lead to significant damage of infrastructure networks disrupting important services such as the transport of people or freight. Hazard maps help to identify exposed infrastructure sections and to support decision making processes regarding infrastructure investment, emergency planning, as well as prioritisation of post-earthquake reconstruction projects. The information required for hazard maps, however, usually relies on labour-intensive and high-cost field investigations. Considering the great amount of data required to assess large distributed infrastructure, an in-situ approach appears to be unsuitable. In this case, geospatial methods combined with probabilistic evaluation can be used as an alternative approach. The research focuses on a recently developed geospatial model to estimate liquefaction exposure across New Zealand transport networks. Based on ten ground shaking scenarios, liquefaction probability was calculated for State Highways and rail showing general hotspots in Waikato, Wellington and West Coast. Despite a similar track, results for rail (incl. rail bridges) are slightly higher compared to the State Highway network.

Further research needs to consider more earthquake scenarios in order to achieve a more accurate evaluation of the networks’ overall exposure to liquefaction. In addition, other seismic hazards (e.g. landslides) and other infrastructure networks (e.g. power transmission) can be included in the assessment.