It hoped to receive the results soon, and that they will prove far less strengthening work, or even none, is needed.

In the meantime the Trust has halted fundraising for strengthening work, which has reached about $100,000.

Copeland said a friend told him about a similar 1932 reinforced concrete building in Christchurch, the old High St Post Office, which survived the 6.3-magnitude February 2011 quake unscathed.

Both it and the monastery were built after the 1931 Napier earthquake with higher seismic standards.

Added to that, the monastery's concrete foundations were built on rock, and the buildings were strengthened in the 1980s when steel bracing was put in the church roof and monastery floor.

"Because of the Christchurch earthquakes and the legal liabilities faced by engineers, I think they were being super-cautious," Copeland said.

The Monastery was yellow-stickered after the original seismic engineer's report assessed the buildings as needing major strengthening to reach or exceed 34 per cent of new building standards.

The 1908 unreinforced masonry church was deemed to meet 26 per cent of the building code.

The adjoining reinforced concrete monastery, built in 1932, was assessed to be 18 per cent.

The predicted $10m strengthening bill shocked St Gerard's owners, the Institute for World Evangelisation - ICPE New Zealand, a lay missionary group, which bought St Gerard's in 1990.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: buildmagazine.org.nz

After the 6.5 quake hit at 5.09pm, the biggest of a swarm of more than 230 that have struck the upper South Island and lower and central North Island since Friday, the celebrant Fr Tom O'Connor invited the congregation to vacate the church which displays warning notices about its vulnerability to earthquakes at each of its entrances.

Last year it was decided that the continued use of St Mary of the Angels was defensible, subject to appropriate signage, information for Church users and continued development of a credible strengthening strategy.

On Monday an assessment team inspected the building, and according to the parish priest Fr Barry Scannell, no damage was discovered. He is now waiting for a written report.

In the meantime Mass will be celebrated in the hall at least till the end of the week, when a further assessment of the situation will be made.

Sunday's earthquake was the strongest earthquake experienced in Wellington since 1942.

Image: Stuff.co.nz