The Historic Places Trust concedes it cannot save all earthquake-prone historic buildings in New Zealand.
It says the most important must be saved, but worries about how can that be done. There are an estimated 15,000 - to 25,000 earthquake-prone buildings nationwide.
Trust chief executive Bruce Chapman said on The Nation programme on TV3 on Saturday, that 3000 of those buildings are historic.
He said it is unrealistic to expect all can be saved under current policies.
The list of endangered heritage buildings includes an Public Trust building in Wellington which was damaged in Sunday's earthquake.
Mr Chapman said important buildings like the Public Trust must be saved, but he had few ideas as to how these would be paid for.
