The future of buildings in the Christchurch central business district remains unclear.
Engineers said that area was unable to be entered, and were concentrating on making sure residents could safely use their homes, even if only temporarily.
But once engineers do get in, they will be looking for "large distortions" in building structures that will indicate whether or not buildings could be saved.
Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand director of engineering Charles Willmot said from Wellington yesterday he would "love to be able to tell you" what the future of the buildings was, but it was too early.
Engineers who had volunteered their time in Christchurch began by helping Urban Search and Rescue teams who where rescuing people from buildings.
They then accompanied building inspectors into suburban areas to determine which homes were habitable, at least for the short term.
A focus after the September earthquake was to get the central business district back up and running, but not this time.
"This time it's pretty sick," Mr Willmot said of the area.
Asked about the future of the buildings, Dunedin structural engineer Lou Robinson said if they could be secured in such a way that they were safe to enter and walk past it was likely they could be saved. Otherwise, it was likely they would have to be demolished.
Asked what engineers looked for when they were checking whether a building could be saved, Mr Robinson said "a few cracks are neither here nor there" for more modern buildings. But, if there was any evidence of leaning, as at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, that would point to foundation failure and little could be done.
"You're looking for large distortions in a building," he said.
In older buildings, engineers would be looking for large cracks.
That did not necessarily mean the end, but any bows in a building would make it a more likely prospect for demolition.
Mr Robinson said the earthquakes and aftershocks, eventually, had cumulative effects.
