This goal is emphasised in the ministry's 2020 earthquake resilience programme.
The ministry got engineers to look at 154 buildings it has staff in, using assessment guidelines updated since the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.
The quake occurred 20km north-east of Turangi at 12:23pm.
"Bloody hell, that was a bang and a half!"
New Zealand and Greece have been chosen to trial Google's automated earthquake warnings.
There have been more than 200 reports on GeoNet of the quake.
A new study suggests there's a 75 percent chance of a major quake in the next 50 years.
A natural disaster expert says such a quake will cause avalanches, road closures and power cuts.
Researchers used to think the probability of a damaging quake in our lifetime was about one in three. Now it's more than double that.
