MikeB4: Of course we could raise taxes considerably and build dams, motorways, quake proof cities, more schools, more hospitals..........

Perhaps this reply belongs in the earthquake thread, but you can't build quake-proof cities. Tall buildings will always be vulnerable to long rolling quakes and low buildings will always be affected by sharp quakes with significant horizontal ground movement. Our building codes are designed to save people, not structures. The media seems to be obsessed with all the commercial real estate that has had to be abandoned as if it's some kind of failureby architects or builders. But it's OK that we have to knock down office blocks and shopping malls because they're damaged in a quake, so long as they remained upright and intact enough for everyone to get out alive. That's why the CCTV building in Christchurch was a problem, and there are questions over the collapsed floor in Statistics House in Wellington.