New seismic sensors in 15 buildings owned by Kāpiti Coast District Council will bolster safety, preparedness, and rapid response in the event of an earthquake.

The Council Property Team has installed the sensors in a range of buildings including community halls, libraries, civic buildings and wastewater treatment plants, with more planned.

Property Manager Kelvin Irvine says the sensors will help manage the process of assessing buildings after an earthquake and is part of the council’s ongoing commitment to improve earthquake resilience, reduce response times, and enhance safety for residents.

“Following an earthquake the sensor system will generate a real-time data report that will be sent to key staff to help determine if a building is safe, requires further inspection or should be considered unsafe,” Mr Irvine says.

“This means if we have a significant shake, we can quickly prioritise our response effort without always having to visually inspect every building.”

By prioritising which buildings need attention, Council can reduce disruption to operations and staff, allowing important community spaces such as halls to be activated as welfare centres for the public.

“Sensors will also let us know if we need to quickly address issues to key infrastructure like water systems.”

Sensors are made locally by Global Seismic Data (GSD) and are BRANZ certified.

GSD operations director Steven McLauchlan says the use of technology to improve community safety is growing.

“Structural health monitoring systems like this allows for data to be quickly collected and analysed, giving the council and emergency services vital information to act quickly and effectively,” Mr McLauchlan says.

“In an emergency speed is of the essence.

“By facilitating an efficient, prioritised response, the system aims to minimise the risk of harm and disruption.”

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