Is it time to move our Capital away from a Quake zone?

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Wellington has been screwed far worse by the Earthquake than we originally thought. Buildings will need to be demolished, the Port is a nightmare and recently built buildings would have been a death trap if the quake had hit during the day time. The so called ’emergency bunker’ under Parliament is taking on water and Scientists are still scrambling to work out what the bloody hell happened.

Perhaps building our Capital on reclaimed land  with fault lines running under it wasn’t the smartest of ideas.

I’ve always considered reclaimed land a bit like the Monorail from The Simpsons, a great big con job of a planning idea that  NZers were stupid enough to take on.

We know that it’s just a matter of time before the Alpine Fault ruptures and there are still the possibilities of quakes from Wellington’s own fault lines rupturing as well.

So.

Seeing as most of our Civil Defence systems seem to be a confused mess of volunteers trying to do the best they can, perhaps we should be seriously considering moving the Capital away from Wellington before we have to?

 

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50 COMMENTS

      • Yes, could be Taupo – Palmy and Hamilton are possibles too.
        The shakes are one thing and inevitability of risk is difficult to judge but rising sea levels are a certainty.
        Capital needs to be inland and accessible.
        Government departments need to be distributed across a number of centres – these days there is no need to co-locate. Better the eggs are in different baskets. Need to assess from the future not the past.

      • Ask the oil companies they will tell where the oil free places are,they would probably help with the move,maybe lots of oil near Wellington no one to protest if no one living there.

  1. Unless you want to make Auckland even more unlivable then that rules Auckland out. Christchurch is also out for obvious reasons. Most other places have a geological danger of some sort. Do you have any suggestions?

  2. How would you do it though. I know there is a plan to move it to Palmerston North if Wellington were shut by a big quake, but eventually it would have to return or some sort of balance struck – Wellington largely exists because it is the capital and if you take Government and its core functions away, how many thousands of people are going to have to move?

    Just a thought.

    • @ Robert Glennie .. Palmerston North is affected by earthquakes. We have family living there and she says every time there is a quake in the northern part of the south island, or in Wellington, Palmy shakes as well.

      As far as I know Palmy is on the same fault line as Wellington, but I do stand to be corrected on that one.

  3. We could follow the US custom of siting state capitals in smaller towns: Albany in NY, Sacramento in California, Tallahassee in Florida, Springfield (not Chicago) in Illinois, and numerous other e.g’s. And if looking for the least quake/volcano-risk part of the country, Oamaru might be a suitable choice, as well as already having architecture fit for a capital. The Opera House, or the old Post Office, as Parliament?

  4. On the contrary – parliament should be moved into the tallest and ricketiest building on the fault – in recognition of the tragic quality of public service they have chosen to provide.

  5. There is Mt Eden Prison. Sorry, ‘Correctional Facility’.
    Asset strip the fuckers first, close our borders to everybody with more than $ 1 Million US $ and give going it alone a go.
    We need them like a boil on the arse. Personally, I’d like to see a very,very localised earthquake swallow the lot of the bastards, ugly building and all.

    • @ COUNTRYBOY … love your suggestion 🙂

      I watch Parliament regularly. Last week hubby paid more interest than usual watching it with me. I asked him why. He said for pure entertainment value, in case the big one hits Wellington and he wants to witness the ratbags packing themselves, while being shaken to their rotten core, preferably being swallowed up by an enormous molten hot soak hole!

      So after reading your post, I’m reassured hubby isn’t alone with his ungenerous thoughts towards our politicians!

  6. Relatively central, close to existing major routes, room for a bigger airport, when this has come up in conversations lately there is a lot to say for Palmerston North.

  7. Suggestion: Palmerston North or Hamilton.

    A half-baked suggestion: for a country colloquially known as the shaky isles, perhaps it’s best not to keep all one’s eggs in one basket.

    • In retrospect, Palmerston North would be significantly affected by a possible mega-thrust earthquake in central New Zealand and there’s evidence of a fault line beneath Hamilton; research pending whether it’s inactive or not. At least these two locations are more accessible should a major quake occur I suppose.

      It’s probably unlikely the capital would move for obvious reasons, probably a lot more feasible to learn from the problems that arise and implement solutions.

      Happens to be that the Government announced plans in 2014 to move government to Auckland should a major earthquake strike Wellington. Temporarily convening in Devonport Naval Base before making more longer-term arrangements.

      With a major earthquake and the likelihood of tsunamis, isn’t the choice of basing government at a naval base rather unwise?

      • Totally unwise with sea-level rise on the way – needs to be inland.
        Also, the move needs to start happening now.

  8. I can think of a great place, smack in the middle of the Desert Road, create a brand new capital city like Canberra. Its desolate and a perfect place, isolated and it might make them work harder being a cold bleak area, trying to keep their energy levels up. If there is a God somewhere please let it be there.

    • Good idea Whispering Kate.

      However I’m thinking locating government on the Desert Road, with all the hot air and BS politicians are well known for, upsetting the sensitive balance of the mountains in the near vicinity, could cause catastrophic eruptions to occur… oh hang on a minute ….!

  9. It boggles the mind why any one would want to spend scarce government resources rebuilding on known quake effected areas. The next building to come down because of quakes loses the following election

  10. Nope, Wellington is central enough for the whole nation, in geographical terms, to be a suitable capital location. The fact that is is on a few fault lines is of course a concern, but then much of the country has fault lines, and where this is less a worry, we here in Auckland have PRESENTLY dormant volcanoes.

    Just imagine Rangitoto spitting out fumes and more, it would freak the hell out of a million and a half people, I bet.

    What we need to do and first of all learn, is to build even better earthquake resilient structures. Much has already been achieved, but there is room for improvement.

    If we want to avoid any risks of what we have, we should instead shift our capital to Canberra or so, as they have a much lower risk of earth quakes, but who wants to embrace our brothers and sisters across the Tasman to such a degree?

    • I studied the Auckland volcano field as part of a geology field work course I did through Massey. Auckland has been drifting west across the hot spot for thousands of years, which is why there are so many cones. If it became active again, the next eruption would be further offshore than Rangitoto, probably on the other side of Motutapu Island.

      A much bigger issue for a potential Auckland capital is sea level rise. Considering how much of the city is on claimed land (reclaimed is what it will be when the sea takes it back), or within a metre or two above sea level, there’s potential for Northland to become an island.

    • Yes, agree DOC.

      Although Kororareka is in the northern part of the north island, I can’t see any reason why putting the capital there again wouldn’t work, particularly with air travel and smart communication systems available, making it a viable possibility to consider. It has a harbour and there are airports in both Kaitaia and Kerikeri, which could be expanded to take the extra traffic. Plus having the capital there, might generate some interest in building a rail system running south through Auckland to the north.

      The super city is out, considering it’s built on a volcanic field, located on narrow isthmus, with a strong possibility of a forceful tsunami destroying the city very quickly.

      Only colonial Brits could build the nation’s capital on a major fault line, while establishing the largest city on a volcanic field!

  11. Epsom would be a good place to move the Beehive to. There needs to be accommodation included inside a revamped Beehive, because some of us cannot afford a house in Auckland’s most desirable suburb.

    The seat of Government needs to be in a stable suburb. And you can’t get more stable than Epsom.

  12. Nah. Cost-benefit analysis reveals leaving it be is the optimum strategy moving forward.
    In any post-quake scenario, the free market will provide a solution. As one example, we might see the Houses of Parliament renting space in a Chinese-owned casino complex for instance.
    The market will know best. Money fixes everything. Aren’t we lucky to live in a place where Mother Nature routinely presents new opportunities.
    Happy days!
    /sarc

  13. Dreams are free: we won’t have an economy or a government [in the present sense of the words] 20 years from now. Indeed, it’s extremely likely that we won’t have an economy or a government [in the present sense of the words] 10 years from now, since environmental, energetic, and financial collapse are all accelerating.

    Everything gets made worse by the government before it gets made worse by the government.

    2017 is going to be a very ‘interesting’ year.

    (I can’t help noticing how slow this site is now, and sometimes it doesn’t load at all: under attack from TPTB?)

    • People made similar predictions in the 70s that the world would collapse within 20-30 years. It turns out humans are remarkably adaptable and catastrophe is unpredictable. I recommend ‘The Ecotechnic Future’ by John Michael Greer as a more nuanced picture of how society might transform as a result of peak oil and climate change, as well as David Holmgren’s ‘Future Scenarios’ website:
      http://futurescenarios.org/

  14. How about Masterton?

    Flat. Accessible. An airport of sorts. Rail. Far enough away from hills, vicious faultlines, and aggressive sea. No reclaimed land to liquify. Already has outposts of government departments. Central- ish. Good summer weather and not too bleak in winter.

    And they’ve been straightening the corners on the Remutaka Pass, so the commuters and Giant Linfox Trucks can eyeball each other more easily. (Whoops!)

  15. Kaikohe in the Far North. It is at a high altitude – zero tsunami risk. Has an old airport with land for runways long enough for a 747 (if paved). And its own power station. In the middle of the island. In the most seismically stable part of the country. It’s poor and could do with the investment.

    It has great fish and chips, and a new pizza shop. And John Key could hang with Eric Rush and John Carter during lunch. He’d be into that, wouldn’t he?

    And Hone Harawira wouldn’t have to travel far when he gets re-elected.

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