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EQC Releases Stage 2 Land Damage Report
1 December 2010
Thousands of Canterbury property owners will today get a clearer picture of the residential land repair work needed after the 4 September earthquake, Earthquake Commission chief executive Ian Simpson said today.
"Today EQC is releasing the Tonkin & Taylor Stage 2 report on land damage and we have sent individualised letters to claimants in Canterbury explaining what is in the report and what the steps ahead for them are individually," Mr Simpson said.
The letters are part of an information pack that includes a fact sheet about how EQC claims are processed, a question and answer document and flowcharts detailing indicative timeframes for the recovery process for all claimants.
The Stage Two report is based on a detailed suburb-by-suburb engineering assessment into the nature and extent of land damage. It also identifies land repair strategies for each suburb and area most affected by land damage.
"Our geotechnical consultants, Tonkin & Taylor, have assessed and mapped about 22,500 residential properties and separated them into three recovery zones - A, B and C. They have found that about 3,300 fall into Zone C, which are the areas most affected by land damage and will require wide-scale coordinated land repair, or additional protection work such as underground retaining walls before any rebuilding can take place.
"They have found that another 5,500 are in Zone B, which are the areas where the land damage can be fixed on a section-by-section basis. This can be done alongside repair and rebuilding work.
"Tonkin & Taylor assessed and mapped another 13,700 in areas (Zone A) near where significant land damage occurred and found no observed signs of any land damage, although some buildings suffered significant damage from shaking. Repair and rebuilding in this area can start as soon as possible.
"The areas assessed and mapped were focused on the suburbs and areas that had the most severely affected reported land damage. The additional unmapped areas of Canterbury are expected to fall into Zones A and B.
"EQC has started communicating this information to all our claimants in Canterbury with letters. Most of these letters were sent yesterday and claimants should get them within the next few days. More letters will be posted out over the next week. With some claimants we don't have correct postal address information and it may take a little longer to contact these people," Mr Simpson said.
"The individualised letters provide an update on where EQC is at with contents, building, and land claims. All claimants will receive the information pack, which is mainly about land damage, but we thought it best that everyone got this information.
"The letters are personalised to the extent of identifying the person or persons and their EQC claim number but do not address the nature and status of particular claims."
The Tonkin & Taylor Stage 2 report is available on EQC's website (www.eqc.govt.nz) along with a readers' guide, questions and answers, a fact sheet, and flowcharts detailing the indicative repair timelines for properties in the three recovery zones.
"The report is also available from the libraries and offices of Christchurch City Council, Waimakariri District Council, Selwyn District Council, and Environment Canterbury," Mr Simpson said.
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For media information contact:
Jo Martin Communications Advisor
Phone (029) 978-6430
Email info@eqc.govt.nz