Capital came through quake well - mayor

Civil Defence says people in Wellington can return to work from Tuesday morning following checks to the central business district after a strong earthquake at the weekend.

Structural engineers spent Monday assessing many buildings for damage after Sunday's 6.5-magnitude quake at 5.09pm off the Marlborough coast at a depth of 17km. A second quake measuring 5.2 happened minutes later and there have been hundreds of aftershocks.

Celia Wade-Brown.

SUPPLIED

Civil Defence had urged workers to stay home on Monday due to the risk from damaged buildings. Acting regional manager Rian Van Schalkwyk told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint programme it has identified and cordoned off external damage on 35 buildings. These would be reassessed on Tuesday morning, however it was safe for people to return to work then.

Wellington City Council said its building inspectors have not found any significant damage in the central city. Chief building officer Richard Toner said most of the damage is cosmetic, rather than structural. However, he said building owners need to ensure that they carry out their own inspections, and several car parks need further assessment before they are cleared.

The Fire Service set up a command unit on The Terrace to provide support to Urban Search and Rescue engineers and technicians. Police said they would maintain a strong presence in the central city overnight on Monday with double the usual number of staff on duty.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said the capital has come through the quake relatively unscathed and would soon return to business as usual. She said the council had already embarked on a multimillion-dollar programme to strengthen quake-prone buildings and infrastructure.

Ms Wade-Brown said Sunday's quake serves as a reminder that people need to be prepared and know what to do when the "big one" does hit. She said the risk of a catastrophic quake hasn't changed from it was last week and the capital is always bracing for a big tremor.

GNS Science said it is almost certain there would be another quake greater than magnitude 5 in the next week. Project director Ken Gledhill told a Wellington Regional Emergency Management briefing on Monday afternoon there has been more than 1000 aftershocks since a 5.7-magnitude quake on Friday and they would continue for the next few weeks.

Wellington Hospital has not reported any damage, but four patients with minor injuries were treated after Sunday's quake. One was a man who was knocked out when a television fell on him.

Listen to Richard Toner on Checkpoint

Listen to people's reactions to the quake on Morning Report

View a live feed of the Wellington Earthquake media conference

Checks are made on Waring-Taylor Street in the central city.

RADIO NEW ZEALAND

Train services resume, airport open

Train services resumed across the Wellington network on Monday afternoon. KiwiRail said it has completed inspections on all lines and trains are running on a half-hourly timetable.

Normal operations are set to resume on Tuesday, but Tranz Metro said services may be suspended again if there are any strong aftershocks and is advising passengers to check its website before travelling.

Wellington Airport is open but runways are being checked regularly following aftershocks and there could be minor delays on Monday. Ferries are operating and ordinary bus services are running as usual.

Civil Defence said people should travel only if it is essential, and commuters in the greater Wellington region are advised to drive with patience and care.

Regional council chairperson Fran Wilde said work has begun to make Wellington's port fully operational as soon as possible. She said a section of the road and sea wall - built on reclaimed land at the southern end of the port - has collapsed into the sea, but it isn't having any major effect on port activities.

Ms Wilde said some buildings have suffered water damage as a result of fire sprinklers being set off by Sunday's quake.

Many buildings closed

Several buildings and offices were shut on Monday, including council buildings, ANZ branches, ACC offices and Westpac Stadium. Te Papa museum is also closed, but a spokesperson said it has had only superficial damage to its store and some exhibits have moved out of place.

Victoria University has been closed.

RADIO NEW ZEALAND

Most university campuses are closed, including Victoria's, but Massey said it is ready to reopen on Tuesday. The Ministry of Justice said all courts would be operating as usual from Tuesday.

Engineers have completed a safety review of three major buildings on the waterfront, including that occupied by the BNZ, which suffered considerable interior damage.

The BNZ building is owned by Centreport. Chairperson Warren Larsen said it has been approved as structurally safe. However, he said there is a lot of damage inside including ceiling units that have fallen and water damage caused by the failure of a fire system.

Mr Larsen said no one can work in the building until the ceiling is repaired and they would be asking engineers to assess why the ceiling collapsed when ceilings in nearby buildings remained intact.

Meanwhile, buildings at Parliament have suffered superficial damage, but are deemed safe to enter. Some shops in central Wellington were open on Monday.

The Mercure Hotel on Willis Street, which was evacuated on Sunday after possible damage to one of the floors was identified, has been cleared by inspectors to reopen. Guests were relocated for the night to its sister hotel, the Ibis.

View a gallery of Wellington's CBD following Sunday's magnitude 6.5 earthquake

Claims will be honoured - PM

Prime Minister John Key on Monday reassured the public that any claims lodged with the Earthquake Commission would be honoured.

Mr Key said the EQC fund has essentially been run down to zero due claims from the Canterbury earthquakes, but the Government will top it up if necessary. He could not put a dollar figure on the damage in Wellington, but said he has been advised that the quake is not a major financial event.

Sunday's quake was stronger than the 6.3 magnitude tremor which struck Christchurch on 22 February 2011, killing 185 people. New Zealand experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, but about 20 are in excess of magnitude 5.0.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/215067/capital-came-through-quake-well-mayor

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