Christchurch Earthquake - 3.30pm 5 September 2010

The Building Evaluation team have assessed about half of the
cordoned-off area of the central city. The road cordons will be lifted
as soon as Police and Civil Defence are satisfied that the area is safe.


The immediate priority is to move the cordon from Montreal Street to
Durham Street. At this stage good progress is being made, and they are
hoping to have that area reopened by the end of the day.

The next priority area will be the cordon area north of the Cathedral
Square. The team is continuing with the process of evaluation as quickly
as possible.

The buildings which have been assessed have colour-coded notices placed
on them to show their status following the earthquake.

Commercial buildings in the city are being given a safety status of
either Green, Yellow or Red - with Red meaning no occupation and Green
having no restriction on occupancy.

The assessment teams are advising owners also to engage a structural
engineer if they have any doubts on the building.

If a second assessment is wanted, building owners are advised to call
Council Call Centre and leave details including building number, name
and contact details.

The status notices are as follows:

GREEN: Building inspected and no restriction on occupancy based on the
inspection. You may still want to get the building checked by a
structural engineer.

YELLOW: Restricted Use - no entry except on essential business. The
advice for the owners of these buildings is to get the building checked
by structural engineers. Entry only for essential purposes like damage
assessment, making safe or as indicated on the check boxes.

RED: Do not enter or occupy - building is seriously damaged and unsafe
based on our inspection. This is not a demolition order. The advice for
the owners of these buildings is to get the building checked by
structural engineers and not to enter or allow entry to the building.

Council assessment teams can undertake a second assessment, accessing
the building internally - but this will take 48 hours based on our
present numbers of engineers available.

Building owners are advised to engage their own structural engineers to
clear their building more quickly as suitable for use.