Earthquake Prone Buildings
I’m the owner of an earthquake-prone building, should I close it to the public?
As a building owner, you will have been contacted by MDC when the building has been identified as potentially earthquake-prone. It was then your responsibility to carry out an engineering assessment of the building to determine its earthquake risk status.
If the assessment identified your building as earthquake-prone (less than 34 per cent of the new building standard) it is more likely to sustain damage in a moderate earthquake.
Whether the building is closed to the public is up to building owners themselves. However, it is important that the public are aware of the building’s status.
What is going to happen to the buildings?
Building owners are given a certain amount of time to carry out strengthening work to improve a building’s integrity. Some buildings have 7.5 years to complete the work and others will have 15 years.
If we haven’t received a report, the building is automatically classified as earthquake-prone. Building owners need to do assessments to confirm they are not earthquake-prone or do the work to bring them up to building standards. All earthquake strengthening work will require a building consent.
