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133AD: Meaning of low, medium, and high seismic risk
or “This explains how to tell if a building is in an area with low, medium, or high earthquake risk based on a special number called the Z factor.”
You could also call this:

“This explains which buildings are considered important in emergencies and need special attention for earthquake safety.”

In areas where earthquakes are more likely to happen, certain buildings are considered priority buildings. These are buildings that are very important during emergencies.

Priority buildings include hospitals that provide emergency medical services or other essential services during emergencies. Buildings that can be used as emergency shelters or centres are also priority buildings. Places where emergency services like police, fire, or ambulance operate from are priority buildings too.

Some educational buildings are also priority buildings. These include early childhood centres, schools, private training establishments, and tertiary institutions. To be a priority building, these places must usually have at least 20 people in them.

Parts of old brick buildings that might fall onto public roads or footpaths during an earthquake are considered priority buildings. Buildings that could block important roads if they collapse in an earthquake are also priority buildings.

When deciding if a hospital or emergency shelter is likely to be needed in an emergency, you need to look at national and local emergency management plans.

Sometimes, only part of a building might be a priority building, not the whole thing.

Being a priority building is important because it affects how quickly the building needs to be checked for earthquake risk and how soon any necessary earthquake-strengthening work needs to be done.

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Next up: 133AF: Role of territorial authority in identifying certain priority buildings

or “The council must ask the public about which streets need protection from falling bricks in an earthquake.”
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Part 2 Building
Special provisions for earthquake-prone buildings: Application and interpretation

133AEMeaning of priority building

  1. In this subpart, priority building means any of the following that are located in an area of medium or high seismic risk:

  2. a hospital building that is likely to be needed in an emergency (within the meaning of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002) to provide—
    1. emergency medical services; or
      1. ancillary services that are essential for the provision of emergency medical services:
      2. a building that is likely to be needed in an emergency for use as an emergency shelter or emergency centre:
        1. a building that is used to provide emergency response services (for example, policing, fire, ambulance, or rescue services):
          1. a building that is regularly occupied by at least 20 people and that is used as any of the following:
            1. an early childhood education and care centre licensed under Part 2 of the Education and Training Act 2020:
              1. a registered school or an integrated school (within the meaning of the Education and Training Act 2020):
                1. a private training establishment registered under subpart 5 of Part 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020:
                  1. an institution established under section 268 of the Education and Training Act 2020:
                  2. any part of an unreinforced masonry building that could—
                    1. fall from the building in an earthquake (for example, a parapet, an external wall, or a veranda); and
                      1. fall onto any part of a public road, footpath, or other thoroughfare that a territorial authority has identified under section 133AF(2)(a):
                      2. a building that a territorial authority has identified under section 133AF(2)(b) as having the potential to impede a transport route of strategic importance (in terms of an emergency response) if the building were to collapse in an earthquake.

                        1. For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) and (b), the likelihood of a building being needed in an emergency for a particular purpose must be assessed having regard to—

                        2. any national civil defence emergency management plan made under section 39 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002; and
                          1. the civil defence emergency management group plan approved under section 48 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 that covers the district in which the building is situated.

                            1. If only part of a building meets the criteria set out in subsection (1), only that part of the building is a priority building.

                            2. Whether a building is a priority building affects—

                            3. the deadline by which a territorial authority must identify whether the building or a part of the building is potentially earthquake prone (see section 133AG); and
                              1. the deadline for completing seismic work on the building or a part of the building, if it is subject to an EPB notice (see section 133AM).

                                Notes
                                • Section 133AE: inserted, on , by section 24 of the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 22).
                                • Section 133AE(1)(d): replaced, on , by section 668 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (2020 No 38).