How different communities view building importance
Explore how different communities view different buildings; how important they are and how quickly they would ideally like to see them return to functionality after a major earthquake.
News
How important is seismic risk relative to all other aspects of the built environment?
Sesimic resilience is competing against a range of other demands in our built environment. In our recent EQC funded, NZSEE Resilient Buildings Project we explored the importance of seismic resilience relative to other building performance objectives.
What influences individuals’ and communities’ risk tolerance and willingness to reduce risk in the buildings they use and own?
To know how to effectively regulate and incentivise risk reduction, we need to understand what spurs people into action and what stops them.
Do communities have the same risk priorities? What impacts a community’s risk tolerance?
Communities have many competing priorities – of which seismic resilience is just one. Understanding a community’s risk tolerance is helpful when planning and prioritising risk mitigation.
How quickly do communities want different types of buildings to be available after an earthquake?Â
Our current engineering standards focus on the structural response to an earthquake. For most buildings there is little consideration of whether a building can function after a significant earthquake or how long it might take to recover, if damaged.
What do New Zealanders want from their buildings?
Is keeping people safe (life safety) the only thing we require of our buildings following a major earthquake? Our current building code focuses on preserving life and making sure critical emergency response facilities are operational. But participants in our study indicated that while life safety remains the most important focus, having a building stock that can enable social and economic recovery is an increasing priority.
Which buildings do we want to be the most ‘life safe’?
Currently in New Zealand we require buildings with post earthquake functions (like hospitals), and large buildings (like stadiums) to be built stronger than others. But is that in line with current societal expectations? We explored this question with participants in our recent EQC funded, NZSEE Resilient Buildings Project.
New research published on societal expectations for seismic performance of buildings
A research report, ‘Societal expectations for seismic performance of buildings’, has just been released. The report is about what New Zealanders think about buildings’ performance in the event of earthquakes. The research was commissioned by the NZ Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE), funded by EQC, and we carried it with the University of Auckland.
RiskNZ Excellence Awards for Earthquake Prone Building project
We are really thrilled this project has been recognised in the RiskNZ Awards, winning both the Risk Initiative of the Year and Stronger Together in Partnership awards.
Looking beyond COVID-19 – what does recovery look like for your organisation?
There is a mantra in emergency management that recovery starts in response. But what does that mean as we continue our response to COVID-19? It’s time that organisations really start thinking about what recovery looks like from this very long event.