Earthquake-triggered landslides pose two indirect hazards to large dams: dam collapse due to upstream dam failure, and reservoir infilling by earthquake-generated sediment. The
 Buller earthquake generated sediment equivalent to 800 years of normal erosion in the Karamea catchment. The effects of this and other historic earthquakes in New Zealand indicate the magnitude of the hazard to present dams and may aid in the safe design of future dams.