According to estimates, the government of New Zealand would require about $1.7 billion in order to make about 25,000 buildings, which are located in the earthquake prone areas, safe till the year 2015.

The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission has put forward 36 recommendations relating to quake-prone buildings situated across the country. One of the recommendations is that all non-residential buildings should be seismically graded on the basis of information available in the public register.

The Commission also recommended an overhaul of the Building Act in order to ensure that councils assess all unreinforced masonry buildings within two years and all other buildings prone to earth quake in the coming five years. It wants all of the chimneys, parapets and ornaments to be either secured or removed from the buildings. If the owner fails to comply, then the authorities will have the power to charge the owner for demolition.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson said that the following the current policies would cost about $1 billion in the coming 28 years. The 36 recommendations are linked to unreinforced masonry, which collapsed and resulted in the deaths of 42 people during the Canterbury earthquake on 22 February 2011.