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Insurance overview
EQCover can help get you back on your feet after a natural disaster
What you're covered for
EQCover applies to several types of natural hazard damage
Natural Disaster Fund
Find out what the Natural Disaster Fund is used for and how it's invested
Research programme
Our research programme is a core part of our Resilience Strategy for Natural Hazard Risk Reduction and is part of our function under the Earthquake Commission Act 1993.
Our role in a natural disaster
Our role in a natural disaster
Suppliers
We’re implementing a purchase order system
Natural disaster insurance
EQCover insurance overview
Natural Disaster Response Model
Natural disaster response model page
Make or manage an EQCover claim
Many new EQCover claims can be managed by your private insurer. This page provides more information.
Requesting claim information
If you want information about the history of a claim, find out more here
Claims process
Process for managing EQCover claims
Making urgent repairs
Making urgent repairs
Canterbury earthquakes
Canterbury earthquakes
Research
Projects on the go, how to apply for funding, search for research results
Data and modelling
Major data and loss modelling projects
Risk reduction and resilience
How we work to reduce risk and build resilience
Outreach
Creating an Aotearoa New Zealand that is better informed about our natural hazards and more prepared for their impacts.
Homeowners
Making your home safer for natural hazards
Home buyers
Features to look for in a property
Building and renovating
Make your investment last
Apartments and shared property
What to think about and how to prepare
Tenants
Ways to make your rental home safer
Landlords
Ways to protect your investment
Natural hazards where you live
Know what hazards could affect the area you live in
Resources
Useful information to help you prepare
The first iteration of New Zealand's EQC scheme was set up in 1945 to provide affordable natural disaster insurance to help communities recover from natural disasters.
Today, Toka Tū Ake EQC’s mission still reflects that same commitment: to reduce the impact on people and property when natural disasters occur.
Over the years, the body now known as the Earthquake Commission (EQC), has undergone several metamorphoses.
The organisation that began as the War Damage Commission was extended to cover earthquake risk and renamed the Earthquake and War Damage Commission because of a need laid bare by the Wairarapa Earthquakes of 1942.
Unlike war damage insurance, earthquake cover was voluntary at the time and, as a result, most property was uninsured. Many buildings damaged in the Wairarapa quake had still not been repaired a year or so afterwards, largely because the owners couldn't afford to pay for repairs. The existence of a substantial war damage fund brought a demand for its use.
At that time, earthquakes and other natural disasters were not new to the New Zealand landscape, and the country had suffered a number of large and, in some cases, tragic natural disasters.
These event timelines provide a history of some of the natural disasters that have occurred in these small islands at the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean, and the environment that gave rise to the formation of Toka Tū Ake EQC.