(a) The area concerned in this report is the coastal strip from the Buller River northwards to Maramea. The main town in the area is Westport which is a Borough with 1300 dwelling houses. Many of the buildings go back to the early 1900’s and fewer new houses and commercial buildings have been built in latter years than in most New Zealand towns of a similar age. (b) Within the last 40 years Westport has suffered three earthquakes which have caused considerable damage to buildings - Buller 1929 - Westport 1962 - Inangahua 1968. The latter two earthquakes occurred after the introduction of the Earthquake & War Damage Act. From the 1962 earthquake more than 1500 claims were received from the district while in 1968 more than 2200 claims were registered. Probably within the Borough of Westport the number of claims from both the shocks was about the same. However in the 1968 shock there were many more claims from the townships further north of Westport - Waimangaroa, Granity, Hector, Nikau, Denniston, Seddonville and Karamea.