Capital still shaky on readiness
Two years ago on November 14, people were violently shaken out of their beds.
The magnitude-7.8 Kaiko¯ ura earthquake struck at 12.02am, waking people across the country. Some Wellingtonians grabbed their families and drove to the hills while others, not knowing what to do, fled to public parks.
And researchers say despite that huge wake-up call, Wellington residents aren’t ready for the next big earthquake.
On that 2016 Monday morning, a tsunami warning saw Wellington streets become blocked by people in cars seeking higher ground.
In Civic Square, hotel guests were huddled together in bathrobes, while CBD residents lined the streets and gathered in hotel lobbies.
In Wakefield St, large chunks of masonry fell from a building, smashing glass below, and the street was closed by emergency services.
Some found themselves unable to return to their workplaces the morning after.
In the weeks after the earthquake, the city ran out of scaffolders and later 20 commercial buildings were demolished.
Regional manager of the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (Wremo) Jeremy Holmes said it was working on a better plan for Wellington to get homes, councils and infrastructure earthquake ready.
Ultimately, the goal was to have every household in Wellington prepared to survive for seven days alone.
But still less than half of Wellingtonians have done basic earthquake preparation, research from Victoria University of Wellington has found.
Holmes said being prepared in Wellington today was very different to what it looked like before the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake.
‘‘Up until this year, our focus on water was the same as what the national message was for 3 litres per person per day. We’ve now changed the metric to be 20 litres per person each day for seven days.’’
Victoria University of Wellington PhD student Lauren Vinnell, who studied Wellington’s preparedness after the earthquake, found less than half of residents had done basic preparations for a major earthquake.
After the Kaiko¯ura earthquake, preparedness spiked and then dropped again, the research found.
Vinnell said a typical Wellingtonian believed people should be preparing for big earthquakes, however they also didn’t believe the people around them were.
But because earthquakes were scary and stressful, people would procrastinate on preparation.
Holmes said people needed to be able to look after themselves for about seven days.
Wellington City Council building intelligence manager Derek Baxter said since the earthquake, 20 commercial buildings were demolished and about 50 had significant repair.
Some buildings were still awaiting their fate, including the council’s civic administration building.
The council had completed the parapet and facade securing of 113 buildings, which Baxter called ‘‘the worst of the worst’’.
‘‘We are now continuing to work on the 637 earthquake-prone buildings in the city.’’
Two years on, it seemed that the market had shifted into ‘‘a new era of modern construction’’.
‘‘We are very pleased to see buildings like PWC and Deloitte House be commissioned with the latest earthquake mitigation systems, and new buildings in Bowen St to be similarly designed.’’
Training exercises
Between today and November 28 councils in the Wellington region will hold a series of training exercises using simulated earthquake scenarios to practise their emergency response procedures. The first coincides with the second anniversary of the Kaiko¯ ura earthquake and takes place at Hutt City Council today. In an earthquake, the emergency operations centres are activated by local councils. Council employees, with support from other partner agencies, assume various roles in the centres to manage and coordinate the region’s response. Holmes said the emergency scenarios during the training exercises created an environment as close to a real-life event as possible. ‘‘Participants are asked to identify and complete tasks within a short timeframe, to create a sense of urgency.’’