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Update from the Earthquake Commission
12 November 2010
Payments by EQC have reached $188 million for damage to residential property from the Canterbury earthquake, up from $145 million a week ago.
"We have now paid out on 12,310 building claims (up from 7,763 a week ago), 8,197 contents claims (up from 5,141), and five minor land claims," the chief operating officer for the Earthquake Commission, Lance Dixon, said today.
"Individual property claims received as of today total 115,413 (up from 111,070 a week ago). Many of these break down into part-claims for building, contents and land. These part-claims now total 145,201 (up from 140,176 a week ago).
"Claims are still coming in at an average of around 600 a day even though it has been 10 weeks since the earthquake and there is only three weeks to go before the cut-off date for claims of 4 December.
"We know some people have been delaying claims because of the aftershocks but there is no need to do this. Any new damage can be added to an existing claim.
"In the meantime, assessments of damaged properties are averaging between 800 and 1,000 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.
"We are aware of the frustration of many claimants and grateful that most appreciate the enormity of the task EQC is facing and accept that it will be some time before the process will be complete.
"In the meantime, our project manager Fletcher Construction has established our first site offices for repairs in the around $10,000 to $100,000 range and the non-emergency repair work is starting 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.
Latest claims figures show that Christchurch has easily the most claims with 91,267, followed by Selwyn with 9,087, Waimakariri with 7,616, Timaru with 2,947, and Ashburton with 2,431.
There are also over 2,000 claims from further afield.
"To put these into perspective, the 2,000 would have represented one third of the total claims for the last significant earthquake we dealt with i.e. the Gisborne earthquake of December 2000," Mr Dixon said.
Claims from further afield include Hurunui (530), Dunedin (413), Waitaki (233), Waimate (148), Grey (109), Queenstown-Lakes (99), Mackenzie (95), Central Otago (67), Wellington City (44), Marlborough (37), Kaikoura (35), Westland (33), Nelson (29), Clutha (23), Southland (23), Buller (22), Invercargill (22), Lower Hutt (16), Tasman (17), Lower Hutt (16), and Gore (11).
Contact:
Jo Martin Communications Adviser
Phone (029) 878-6430
Email info@eqc.govt.nz