New building standards likely to come from the fallout of the Christchurch earthquake have prompted caution from Hastings District councillors.
Councillors had plenty of questions around what the implications of the earthquake disaster could be for Hawke's Bay when they looked at the district's draft annual plan yesterday.
At the top of their list of concerns was possible changes to the building code after an expected review of the earthquake was completed by government agencies later this year.
Others were worried the earthquake would put in doubt extensive work the council had already completed on where urban expansion should occur, given the destruction caused by liquefaction in Christchurch.
It also re-ignited questions on whether Hawke's Bay was prepared to cope with other types of natural disasters with reminders of the coastal erosion problem at Te Awanga and Clifton which still looms.
Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said it would be a "massive issue" for the Government to tackle over the coming months.
"At the moment they're saying any area with liquefaction should not be built on but the whole CBD [in Christchurch] has suffered from liquefaction.
"I don't think there is a short-term fix here, there will be large areas of Hawke's Bay that will be subject to liquefaction and I think we will get a direction from Government over the problem in time."
Mr Yule thought it would be 12 months to two years before any changes were made to regulation around building standards.
The Building Act required councils to assess public buildings and some large residential buildings for earthquake resistance.
Those deemed to be earthquake-prone needed to be strengthened to a minimum level.
"When Gisborne was struck with an earthquake [December 2007] the council there decided to make everyone go up to 60 per cent [of the code]," Mr Yule said.
"When the earthquake struck Christchurch in September, it went up to 60 per cent there.
"But 30 per cent is the current law requirement. Everyone wants to go higher but it is expensive."
The council's policy on earthquake-prone buildings was approved in 2006 and was due to be reviewed this year.
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