US quake engineer says NZ needs to lift performance

A US quake engineer says New Zealand needs simple rules, strongly enforced, to rein in high levels of non-compliance. The construction industry has admitted that seismic restraints on the likes of ceilings, pipes and ducts have often not been installed properly, even though these can cause the most damage in a big quake. New information obtained by RNZ News released under the Official Information Act shows most councils across high quake-risk zones of central New Zealand have little idea if their emergency operations centres meet these restraint standards. Richard Bachman of Orange County has provided advice to government officials here about how Californian counties deal with non-structural restraints.