Back around 1982 I visited New Zealand. Traveling around Auckland it was surprising to me to encounter so many unreinforced masonry buildings. I tried several

Back around 1982 I visited New Zealand. Traveling around Auckland it was surprising to me to encounter so many unreinforced masonry buildings. I tried several times to ask politely what was being done about this problem and each time received a stern response along the lines of "Shut up and mind your own business, damned Yankee." Then in 2011 nearly 200 people were killed, mostly by those buildings which had stood as an obvious risk for decades.