Action on earthquake risks

Press, 10 December 1982, Page 6

Action on earthquake risks

The Christchurch City Council will take action against owners of earth-quake-risk buildings who are not attempting to correct problems. A new policy that would require owners to confirm a programme of remedial work within six months of a council notice was recommended by the council’s town-planning committee yesterday.-

If that were not done, formal notice requiring compliance with Local Government Act requirements

would be served on owners. New owners, who may not have been informed of possible earthquake problems, would be sent a preliminary letter and information sheet if problems were found in a new survey of city-centre buildings constructed before 1935. Legislation applies to such buildings which are built of unreinforced concrete or masonry, and are used for commercial purposes. Mr B. C. Bluck, the buildings engineer, said that a low-key programme over the

last 13 years had been successful in getting rid of most of the immediate hazards. But some buildings had changed hands, and new owners found that what they considered a building was “just a good section with some bricks on it,” he said. Of 250 buildings which had been surveyed in the last 13 years, 125 had been demolished or secured; 95 owners had not responded to advice that their buildings might not comply with earthquake standards. Mr Bluck said that the 125

buildings “included all the worst earthquake risks” in the city centre. “The council must, avoid being in a position where it could be deemed to have been negligent for not having drawn an earthquake risk to the attention of an owner,” he said of the new policy. Part of the council’s present policy has been the persuasion of building owners to remove or strengthen parapets and building appendages in central business district shopping streets.