>Yep, the South Island keeps getting hit. The biggest city of Auckland is said to be away from the fault line, though it is built on a purportedly monogenetic field of 53 volcanoes (monogenetic meanng each volcano only erupts once.)
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>Interestingly, relatively new buildings in the capital (Wellington) need to be demolished after the latest quake, despite earthquake rating. Will be interesting to learn how this could be: at least one of the buildings that collapsed last time in Christchurch, in hindsight did not meet the required code despite all the usual engineering and regulatory box-ticking.

Another New Zealander I know says the code is designed to ensure the buildings don't collapse in the earthquake, in order to save lives, but may not be good enough to ensure that the buildings are safe afterward. Does that match what you know?

Tamar