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A $3.5 million project will focus over the next seven years on predicting when the next big one will hit Wellington.
It's Our Fault, launched yesterday, will better define the region's earthquake risk and allow for planning to reduce damage and risk to lives.
Wellington has four major active faults and several second-order faults, including some in Cook Strait - all capable of producing a damaging quake.
"There's been speculation and media talk for a long time that Wellington's overdue and the big one's coming. That's by no means certain that it's just round the corner," said geologist Kelvin Berryman, from Government-owned research company GNS Science, which is leading the project.
Dr Berryman said some evidence suggested the last big earthquake to hit Wellington, in 1855, might have "de-stressed" the Wellington fault, removing it further from rupture.
The project will improve knowledge of individual faults and the way they interact with each other.
Dr Berryman said the project would have direct application on insurance and asset management and would lead to better emergency planning.
Earthquake Commission general manager David Middleton said not enough was known about Wellington's earthquake risk.
"The better our understanding of the hazards we face, the better equipped we can become to deal with them."
The commission, the Accident Compensation Corporation, Wellington City Council, and Greater Wellington are funding the project.
