NZSEE Seminar – Global Lessons: What International Mitigation Strategies Can Teach Us About Seismic Resilience in New Zealand

WSP Auckland, 3/100 Beaumont St, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010 | Online
5:30pm Networking | 6:00pm Presentation 

As New Zealand brought forward its review of the Earthquake-Prone Buildings (EPB) system, there is increasing need to draw on international best practices to inform more effective seismic risk mitigation. This presentation offers a comparative analysis of seismic retrofit frameworks across jurisdictions including California, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, Mexico, and Italy. It explores the regulatory approaches, technical standards, implementation mechanisms, and financial tools employed to manage seismic risk in buildings—both public and private.

By identifying the core features of effective mitigation programs, such as prioritising high-risk structures, tailoring retrofit standards to building typologies, enabling incremental compliance, and embedding strong enforcement and oversight, this research offers insights relevant to New Zealand’s policy and practice. Special attention is given to the adaptability of these measures to New Zealand’s unique building stock, heritage considerations, and institutional context. The aim is to support the development of a more resilient built environment through evidence-based regulatory evolution.

Register to attend the Auckland seminar | Register to attend online 

Dr Olga Filippova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Property at the University of Auckland and an Associate Director at QuakeCoRE. Her research sits at the intersection of the physical and financial dimensions of the built environment, with a particular focus on how property market participants perceive and respond to natural hazard risks.

Olga has led and contributed to interdisciplinary projects examining the economic viability of seismic retrofitting in New Zealand’s regional towns, the pricing of natural hazard risk in housing markets, and the regulatory frameworks that influence investment decisions in at-risk built assets.

Her recent research with colleagues from the University of Auckland and University of Canterbury includes a comparative jurisdictional analysis of seismic risk mitigation frameworks, aiming to support the EPB and seismic risk management review.

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