A plan to increase Wellington’s seismic resilience needs to be ‘accelerated’

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Much progress has been made to make Wellington more earthquake-resistant, but Dame Fran Wilde says works need to be expedited.

Wilde is chair of Wellington Lifelines Group, which completed an extensive report in 2019 calling for a program of action to ensure Wellington’s resilience in the face of a major earthquake.

Originally, the program was supposed to be completed in the next 20 years, but “we have to hurry” to achieve that goal, she said.

The report was based on the worst-case scenario, in which a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit the Wellington fault line. There is a 10% chance that this major earthquake will strike within the next 100 years.

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The Auckland flood put resilience on people’s minds – and Wilde hoped it would encourage people to take action in their areas.

She said the analysis showed that “investing now will save billions in the event of a major earthquake”.

“We’re a bit too risky if we leave this until 50 years from now.”

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An aerial view of the Wellington Fault running along California Road in Upper Hutt.

In addition to protecting critical transmission, power, and communications lines from earthquakes, the plan outlined in the Life Lines Report will make the region more resilient to smaller disasters such as floods.

The report released by the group in 2019 identified a series of infrastructure projects that could increase the region’s resilience in the event of a major earthquake.

If the projects are completed, they would save at least $6 billion – but the real savings for New Zealand are likely to be larger, as the report did not take into account hard-to-quantify social and health benefits.

“We’ve now been three years into the program and we’re already seeing some great strides into a more resilient region,” Wild said.

Murray Wilson/Staff

Wellington Lifelines Group President Dame Fran Wilde says the resilience plan needs to be accelerated.

There has been progress in the seismic strengthening of Seaview Wharf, which is very important for emergency fuel supplies. Anthony Delaney, chief executive of CentrePort, said the works were on track for completion this year.

Wellington Water has also upgraded the water pipes across the network, with a plan to improve 152km in all.

“While we are off to a good start, there is still a long way to go and concerted efforts are required to ensure delivery of the program as a whole.

“We encourage the central government to look into these needs because, as we know, it’s a matter of when, not if, which will have the biggest impact on the region,” Wilde said.

More academic reports examining earthquake resistance in terms of economic benefits have been in the works, in a similar style to the Wellington Lifelines report.

“There is a regional and national interest in ensuring that the Program of Action is delivered,” Wilde said.

Many of the projects in the $5.3 billion program were either in progress or completed, but some future projects still needed to secure funding.

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