The material in this document relates specifically to earthquake hazards, and should not be assumed to have wider applicability. It is intended to provide general guidance for geotechnical earthquake engineering. It is intended that, when properly used in conjunction with NZS 1170 and relevant materials standards, the resulting design would comply with the New Zealand Building Code, and through that compliance, achieve the purpose stated in the Building Act 2004 of ensuring that people who use buildings can do so safely and without endangering their health. Other documents provide more specific guidelines or rules for specialist structures and these should, in general, take precedence over this document. Examples include New Zealand Society on Large Dams Dam Safety Guidelines, New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Guidelines for Tanks, Transit New Zealand Bridge Design Manual, and Transpower New Zealand Transmission Structure Foundation Manual. Where significant discrepancies are indentified among different guidelines and design manuals it is the responsibility of the designer to resolve such discrepancies as far as practicable so that the design meets the requirements of the Building Code and Building Act