A quake in Wellington: we’re all f***ed

Katie Chapman at Stuff reports:

Major routes in and out of New Zealand’s capital city could be blocked by rubble from more than 400 buildings with unstable masonry in the event of a big earthquake.

A new council report into Wellington’s resilience has found the city’s economy would take a $37 billion hit if it experienced an event like the Christchurch earthquake, with many core businesses and services – including the Government – likely to leave the city permanently.

Among concerns highlighted in the report are the 435 buildings in Wellington with unreinforced masonry, 166 of which are heritage buildings.

The location of many earthquake-prone buildings along important strategic roads means routes needed by emergency services in the event of a big earthquake could end up blocked by fallen masonry.

The short version is if a big quake hits Wellington, we’re all fucked.

Transmission Gully will at least provide an alternate route out in the future , but even getting to the start of that will probably prove highly difficult.

Still it could be worse than being left to rot in a quake destroyed Wellington. The Government will probably relocate to Palmerston North – a fate worse than death!