After the November 14th earthquake and some aftershocks, some of Wellington’s buildings are damaged. An office block in Molesworth St, which was empty, is now being demolished. Three buildings owned by the Wellington City Council will be demolished. All three were going to be demolished in the future anyway to make way for new buildings.
Asteron building opposite the railway station is only 6 years old but it has cracks in the stairs. Engineers are checking that building.
About 3,000 government workers have been affected by building damage. Some have moved to other buildings while others were told to stay home in the meantime.
The car park and cinema in Queensgate Shopping Mall in Lower Hutt are badly damaged. Buildings next door – a supermarket, restaurant and part of a hotel – were evacuated tonight.
A retirement village in Johnsonville is badly damaged. Residents have been moved to other homes. The village will be rebuilt.
Cuba St pedestrian mall seems to be fine. However, many of those buildings in that Historic Area are on the list of buildings which are earthquake-prone and must be strengthened. The Council gave them many years – sometimes 20 years – to do this work, but now the Council says the work must be done more urgently. About 30 of those buildings are classified as Heritage buildings which many Wellingtonians love and want to keep.
Engineers will be busy checking buildings in the next few days to make sure they are safe.
Vocabulary
• demolished (verb – future passive) – pulled down
• affected (present perfect passive) – have an influence on these people
• evacuated (past passive) – people have to leave
• retirement village – apartments for retired people
• pedestrian mall – no traffic
• earthquake-prone – likely to be damaged in an earthquake; prone – at risk eg. some children are injury-prone
• classified (present passive) – on a list
• Heritage – beautiful, old buildings
• Wellingtonians – Wellington people
Grammar
“All three were going to be demolished in the future” – Use “was going to / were going to” for future plans which have now been changed or cancelled. E.g I was going to leave on Saturday but now I have decided to leave on Sunday.
More passives: are damaged / were told / have been moved / will be rebuilt / must be strengthened / must be done