Auckland’s seismically risky buildings

The Auckland city council recently decided to keep secret a list of some 4000 buildings in Auckland that are seismically risky. They thought it would create panic in the streets to release this information. They want to give the owners of said buildings the chance to get their own engineer’s reports first which is all very well except that in the vast majority of cases, it’s not the building owners who occupy the buildings but innocent third parties who lease them out. These are the people who ought to have access to this information. They are the ones who work and play in these buildings and they have the right to know how likely these buildings are to collapse catastrophically in an earthquake.

What is even more surprising about all of this is that at this current time, a royal commission is underway in Christchurch and it is seeking some answers about the collapse of the CTV and PGC buildings. Just in the last few days it has emerged that the PGC building was a known seismic risk: known to the council and the property manager. Yet they did not pass this information on to the people who used the building on a daily basis. Instead the building was given a green sticker with the words: safe to occupy. What could those people who did use the building have done? Nothing. They were told it was safe to use and so they did. 18 of them were crushed to death on February 22nd. Two others have their lives but not their legs.

If I knew which buildings were a known seismic risk in Auckland, I’m not sure how I’d react. I may still enter them as Auckland is a low seismic risk but the choice would at least be mine. I would enter at my own risk and I would have the option of keeping my children away and safe. This is my choice, not the council’s.