Quake day four: Reading Cinema complex evacuated, neighbouring car park likely to be demolished

Key developments: 

• Wellington Mayor Justin Lester tells NBR Radio that it will be at least three weeks until the full extent of the damage to buildings is known. The official estimate of damaged buildings has also been lowered to 10 from the earlier 60. However, Council CEO Ken Lavery says it's likely inspections will reveal more buildings that have to be cordoned off. "We do expect some more to be coming, to be frank," he says. "We’ll act swiftly, and that will mean cordoning areas off that are unsafe. The council boss says it's his preference to work with building owners on demolitions, but "If we don’t get cooperation, we’ll look at using our own powers to do so." Listen to Mr Lavery's interview with NBR Radio's Grant Walker (free here on SoundCloud) for more on Wellingtonians' growing unrest as new cordons appear.

• A large area of Courtenay Pl in central Wellington has been cordoned off and the Courtenay Central building, home to Reading Cinemas, shops and restaurants, evacuated. The Courtenay Central building has been judged structurally sound, but there are fears the neighbouring car park could collapse. An apartment block at the adjacent 234 Wakefield St has also been evacuated. Mayor Justin Lester says the car park is likely beyond repair and will have to be demolished — with any vehicles remaining inside becoming collateral damage.

• GeoNet now says there is a 30% chance of a magnitude 7 to 7.8 quake in the next month.

• BNZ has abandoned its Harbour Quays building, owned by CentrePort, and says it will take months rather than weeks to reopen. The bank has hired Fletcher Building to carry out remedial work. The move comes despite the fact that the building was cleared as structurally sound by CentrePort on Tuesday, having undertaken a series of upgrades in the wake of the 2013 Seddon quakes that closed the office. CentrePort's land showed signs of liquefaction after the quake and the government today kicked off an investigation into the performance of buildings, including Statistics House, which is also on the port's land and has come under close scrutiny over the damage it sustained. 

• Mr Lester tells NBR Radio that it will be at least three weeks until the full extent of the damage to buildings is known. Earlier today, the official estimate of damaged buildings has also been lowered to 10 from the earlier 60. However, Council CEO Ken Lavery says it's likely inspections will reveal more buildings that have to be (as he puts it to NBR Radio) "removed." He says, "We do expect some more to be coming, to be frank. We’ll act swiftly, and that will mean cordoning areas off that are unsafe." The council boss says it's his preference to work with building owners on demolitions, but "If we don’t get cooperation, we’ll look at using our own powers to do so."

• A $7.5 million wage-subsidy has been announced for quake-hit businesses with fewer than 20 staff who have exhausted private loss-of-earnings cover.

• Building and housing minister Nick Smith says there will be an inquiry into the performance of buildings in Wellington, with a special focus on the relatively new Statistics House.

• An 0800 779 997 Government Helpline has been activated to assist people needing financial and other support following the Kaikoura quake. The number will operate seven days a week from 7am to 9pm until further notice.

• The demolition of the office building at 61 Molesworth St should begin in the next couple of days, Wellington Council controller of buildings Mike Scott says. The demo will take place in two stages, Mr Scott says. The first, which he anticipates will be relatively quick, will see the front of the building, where a support beam has "fractured like a bone", removed. This should eliminate the danger of the 10-storey structure falling over during a major aftershock. The second, longer phase would see the remainder of the building deconstructed. The high-rise, located 100m from the Beehive, is owned by NBR Rich Lister Eyal Aharoni and was not listed as earthquake prone by the council.

Here's a snippet of @clarecurranmp's question on GeoNet funding. Brownlee says work on the idea started before Monday's quake. pic.twitter.com/OWnxpYRQEr

— NBR (@TheNBR) November 17, 2016

• GeoNet director Ken Gledhill is pushing for a funding top-up to allow for 24/7 quake and tsunami monitoring. Dr Gledhill says although there are automated systems, a human presence is needed around the clock too. Currently, there are two staff on-call after hours, but both have already worked a day shift. Dr Gledhill's request was the focus of a question from Labour's Clare Curran in Question Time today. The government's reply was distilled by Ms Curran as "maybe" and "some time".

Before & after pics of the building threatening @NZRedCross HQ. The side's shearing off towards our building. #eqnz #RedCross #MolesworthSt pic.twitter.com/JKyMrCT8sN

— corinneambler (@corinneambler) November 15, 2016

• The evacuation of Kaikoura is nearly complete. Yesterday, the HMS Canterbury delivered 440 people, and four dogs, to Lyttelton, and will return with supplies. A number of tourists and locals on a triage list were evacuated by helicopter. Water and supplies were air-dropped to those remaining in the quake-hit region.

5000 litres of water was air dropped into Kaikoura this evening by the Defence Force pic.twitter.com/1OyCB1nXs3

— Maja Burry (@MajaBurry) November 16, 2016

• About 200 tourists remain in the quake-hit area. Most are likely to be evacuated via SH70 to Culverden, which late yesterday was reopened – albeit with access restricted to military-style four-wheel-drive vehicles at this point.

Kaikoura evacuation image courtesy NZDF.

• Geonet has upgraded Monday's 12.02am quake from 7.5 to 7.8 magnitude. The upgrade means stronger aftershocks are more likely (see GeoNet's latest probability table here). Weak aftershocks continue every few minutes.

• Statistics NZ says it will be several months before staff are allowed back into the building it occupies on Wellington's waterfront. Concrete beams were ripped from the outside of the building causing the ceilings to partially collapse, owner CentrePort say.

⏯Check this out. Absolutely incredible footage of the state of the roads surrounding Kaikoura. @AlexGPAshton reports https://t.co/kVzlcQEm69 pic.twitter.com/fmvhxJ50LP

— Checkpoint (@CheckpointRNZ) November 16, 2016

• New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) headquarters on Aitken St near Parliament, have also been closed as "uninhabitable" due to earthquake damage. The building houses about 1200 staff. Officials won't give a timeline but RNZ quoted one source as saying repairs would take at least a year.

• The Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt, which houses 182 shops, has been closed until at least the end of the week for quake damage assessment. The growing list of abandoned buildings also includes the Tennyson Apartments on Tennyson Street, a 40-apartment Ryman Healthcare retirement village in Khandallah and Justice House, where burst pipes caused water-logging.

MT @DeptOfDefense: #USNavy CAPT Jeff Davis says at request of NZ Gov, #USSSampson joining P3 already on station to support #NZquake relief pic.twitter.com/avoALnhbjz

— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) November 15, 2016

• Three foreign warships are expected to arrive off the Kaikoura coast this morning. They will be assisting with checks on smaller rural towns and delivering supplies. The international warships had been headed to the International Naval Review in Auckland. NZDF accepted offers from naval ships from the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore to help with relief efforts. The USS Sampson, HMAS Darwin and HMCS Vancouver are now close to quake-hit areas, where their helicopters will help deliver supplies and evacuate people.

• The government is preparing to announce a relief package for Kaikoura. Finance Minister Bill English says the cost of infrastructure repairs will run into the single-digit billions. "The main arterial route for the North and South Islands is going to be significantly disrupted in parts for quite some time and the cost of restoring that will fall to the government, or quite a lot of it," he told a press conference yesterday. The Wellington and Picton ports will also require major repairs.

• Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley says freight costs along affected routes have spiked 18%.

• Spark, Vodafone and Chorus have joined forces on an "aqua cable" project to restore telecommunications services to Kaikoura, but warn the work could take months.

• Spark says it is waiving termination and moving fees (which can range up to $190) for those forced to move because of the quake. Along with its earlier free wi-fi, that's helping to make up for its 111 fail in the immediate aftermath of Monday's quake.

• Privacy Commissioner John Edwards says visitors to quake-hit areas, where there have been a number of homes have been looted, are not being required to carry photo ID as earlier reported in some publications. "The Police have reassured me that this is not the case, Locals, as well as tourists, travelling in the area may be asked  to discuss their travel intentions but there is no legal power to require a traveller to carry or produce photo ID beyond the usual requirement for drivers to show a valid driver's licence," Mr Edwards says.

• New photos have revealed the extent the land has been scarred around quake-hit areas. See NBR's latest gallery below.