It’s far too early to tell whether the earthquake in Colombia is connected to the one in Venezuela. But reinforced concrete walls are needed to resist lateral loads from wind and, in rare but extreme cases, earthquakes. But in Colombia, many buildings have thin concrete walls, typically 7 to 10 centimetres thick. Most reinforced concrete buildings designed post-1980s performed well. However, a proliferation of lightly reinforced, thin concrete walls likely exists in the building stock of Australian cities built before this revision.