Christchurch's mayor is calling on other cities to protect their character buildings before a disaster strikes them.
New figures show Christchurch has saved about 70% of its most valuable heritage, with only 22 out of 74 Category 1 buildings partly or fully demolished due to recent earthquake damage.
The information was released by Bob Parker at a public lecture in Dunedin on Thursday night.
Mr Parker says Dunedin's residents should support their council's push for the quake-strengthening of buildings as fast as possible.
"It's not just your Category 1 buildings that are giving your community character - it's actually a lot of the lesser valued buildings in pure heritage terms. And if that's important to you as a community, you need to move now to protect those places."
Mr Parker says Christchurch has saved more heritage than people realise, but less than it would have liked.