red-zone

English

Etymology

From the system of classifying areas of Christchurch, New Zealand as red zone (irreparable), green zone (reparable), or orange zone (more investigation needed) after the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Verb

red-zone (third-person singular simple present red-zones, present participle red-zoning, simple past and past participle red-zoned)

1. (Christchurch, New Zealand) To categorize as too damaged to repair, and requiring the owners to vacate (a property).
   • 2013, Rebecca Macfie, Report from Christchurch, page 26:

     And in the event their land is red-zoned, at least they know they will ultimately get a new house under their AMI insurance policy.

   • 2016, James Goff, C. R. de Freitas, Natural Hazards in Australasia, page 133:

     As a result of severe and recurrent liquefaction damage, and the infeasibility of timely and effective land repair, more than 7000 residential properties in Christchurch were red-zoned (designated as currently uneconomic to repair) and purchased by central government at a cost exceeding NZ$1.6 billion.

   • 2017, Gerald Murnane Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 336:

     His house in the Loop was red-zoned.

Anagrams

• rezoned