Natural hazards can be broadly classified into five categories: geophysical (earthquakes and volcano), meteorological (storms), hydrological (floods), climatological (droughts), or biological (epidemics).  Such natural events are nothing new and these events are a natural part of the environment we live in.  What has changed significantly over the last decade is that we are now acutely aware of these natural events as they are streamed across our display devices from televisions in our homes to cellular phones in our pockets.  The explosion of cheap video recording and display devices has brought these natural events into our lives as we have never seen before.  The explosion of 24-7 media literally everywhere we look, has come with an increase in our awareness of the threat of these natural events and the feeling of vulnerability that comes with this heightened awareness.  When people feel vulnerable they turn to the government for protection, which often leads to a call for tighter legislation to manage this topical threat.  Yet how much can we actually do to legislate away the risk from nature’s threats?  This presentation will focus on the NZ building legislation in terms of its ability to mitigate the natural events we face.  It will include a discussion of the risk on natural disasters in the context of everyday risks we routinely take for granted.  Recent research into engineering resilience in our buildings will also be discussed.   The presentation will end with a discussion of the changes that are being considered for the future and the ability of the legislation to mitigate the threat from natural hazards.