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Update from the Earthquake Commission
5 November 2010
EQC has paid out $145.1 million so far for damage to residential property from the Canterbury earthquake.
"We have now paid out on 7,763 building claims, 5,141 contents claims and four minor land claims," the chief executive ofthe Earthquake Commission, Ian Simpson, said today.
"Individual claims received as of today total 111,070. Many of these claims separate into building, contents and land claims. These separate claims now total 140,176.
"Assessments of damaged properties continue as fast as we can and we are now averaging well over 800 a day. Roughly half are of the most or more seriously damaged property and half are by our fast track system of damage claims likely to be under $10,000.
"The Insurance Council is calling the Canterbury earthquake the single largest insurance event in New Zealand's history. Further to that, we believe that EQC itself is handling the largest number of claims ever by any single insurance organisation in the Southern Hemisphere.
"This has stretched our ability to deal with those claims yet we believe we are making good progress. Of course we are fully aware of the frustration of many claimants and grateful that most appreciate the enormity of the task and accept that it will be some time before the process will be complete.
"In the meantime, our project manager Fletcher Construction is establishing our first site offices for repairs in the around $10,000 to $100,000 range and we can now expect to see the repair work start in earnest.
"While we have been concentrating on the areas that have suffered the worst and most widespread damage, we are conscious that there are many people outside Canterbury who have property damage and are awaiting assessment.
"Christchurch has easily the most claims at 88,078, followed by Selwyn with 8,660, Waimakariri with 7,185, Timaru with 2,829, and Ashburton with 2,327. What many people may not realise is that there have been quite a few claims from further afield as well. These include Hurunui (486), Dunedin (395), Waitaki (222), Waimate (136), Grey (102), Queenstown-Lakes (98), Mackenzie (87), Central Otago (60), Wellington City (44), Marlborough (37), Kaikoura (35), Westland (32), Nelson (27), Buller (22), Clutha (20), Invercargill (20), Lower Hutt (16), Tasman (15) and Gore (10).
"We are still receiving several hundred new claims per day. We continue to urge people who have yet to do so to lodge their claim without delay. The sooner we can get all claims into the system the better," Mr Simpson concluded.
Contact:
Jo Martin Communications Adviser
Phone (029) 878-6430
Email info@eqc.govt.nz