Experience has shown that successful application of earthquake engineering in the Pacific, particularly the understanding of earthquake risk as applied in the high-risk urban areas, is fundamentally dependent on continuing studies of seismicity and neotectonics; research on foundation problems; the institution of building standards; and seismic microzonation studies of urban population centres. The whole needs to be carried forward by a comprehensive risk-management approach that takes scientific and engineering advances towards social outcomes by defining the people, buildings and infrastructure at risk, and engages the relevant communities in planning for ways to treat risk, including risk-financing for catastrophes. The challenges inhibiting that successful application in the Pacific Islands are manifold, and include problems imposed from outside the region as well as those inherent from within. The focus of activities related to earthquake engineering should now be on the solutions to those challenges, including improvements in education, organisational approaches and research on the local risk, as well as providing for an immediate technical response capacity to disasters and a regional network facility. Overwhelmingly, a more efficient coordination of the services provided by the international community is called for, because a concerted effort is required if there is to be any chance of successfully overcoming the challenges to sustainable development in the Pacific.