Still time to lodge EQC claims for October 2018 earthquake event
The Earthquake Commission is reminding customers whose homes and property suffered damage in the earthquake that struck the North Island near Taumarunui on 30 October last year that they still have time to lodge a claim.
Head of Response and Recovery, Robyn Nation, says that homeowners who have incurred damage can lodge a claim with EQC through to 30 January.
“It is important to EQC that each homeowner has their claim settled as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our team is assessing each individual claim, and depending on the extent of damage may arrange for a geotechnical engineer, valuer or other expert to carry out an inspection of the property.
“We work with homeowners to get as much information on the damage to the property as possible so we can understand what support they need and what damage is covered by EQC. Even if you don’t have all the information you might eventually need to provide, you should still lodge a claim and we can start the process of getting it resolved.”
EQC has so far received 598 claims for damage following the earthquake, and of these claims, 456 have now been closed. EQC has paid out just over $923,000 to homeowners with an average time from lodgement to closure of just 25 days.
To date, there have been 182 claims lodged from across the Greater Wellington region and these are the majority of the claims. EQC has also received 61 claims from the Christchurch City district, 54 from Palmerston North City, 31 from Whanganui, 25 claims from Nelson City district, 24 claims from both Manawatu and Marlborough districts and 20 claims lodged in the Napier district.
The remainder have been lodged across the eastern and northern areas of the South Island and the southern and mid regions of the North Island.
“The earthquake was a reminder that New Zealand is a geologically active country, and as we saw in 2018, we also experience storms throughout the country as well.
“Our message is that if there is another earthquake or storm in the coming months which cause damage to property, then come and talk to us and our team will assist with lodging and managing your claim,” says Mrs Nation.
Lodging an EQC claim
People have three months to lodge a claim with EQC from the date on which a natural disaster occurs. The date of this event is 30 October, so people have until Wednesday 30 January 2019 to lodge a claim.
You can lodge claims with EQC online at www.eqc.govt.nz/claims, via email on info@eqc.govt.nz or by calling 0800 DAMAGE (326 243). The EQC call centre is open 7am to 9pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 6pm on Saturdays. Having your insurance policy at hand helps when you contact us.
If you have taken out a home or contents fire insurance policy, EQC covers you against physical loss and damage to your home (usually up to $100,000 + GST), contents (usually up to $20,000 + GST) and a defined area of residential land from:
- Earthquake
- Natural landslip
- Volcanic eruption
- Hydrothermal activity
- Tsunami
EQC also insures your residential land (within limits) against storm and flood damage and insures you for fire resulting from any of these natural disasters. If your property isn't damaged after one of these disasters, but damage is imminent as a direct result of one of them, EQC may also provide cover.
