Earthquake claims top 300,000

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has received more than 300,000 claims from the Canterbury earthquakes which began on September 4, putting the scale of the events into stark clarity, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

As of today, EQC has received 302,440 claims of which 184,399 relate to the first event on September 4 last year and the subsequent events on October 19, November 14, December 26, January 20 and February 4.

A further 118,041 claims have been received from the devastating February 22 earthquake and the 5.3 magnitude aftershock on April 16. EQC is receiving, on average, around 1,300 new claims daily.

“To date EQC has paid out over $840 million in claims from people who’ve suffered damage to their land, homes and contents, making the Canterbury earthquakes by far the largest natural disaster the country has faced,” Mr Brownlee said.

“The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) is working with EQC and other agencies to produce a comprehensive picture of the state of the land in Canterbury, the detail of which will be used as the basis for further EQC claims payments.”

Mr Brownlee said the events of the past seven months in Canterbury rank as one of the biggest natural disasters worldwide.

“Prior to the tragic events in Japan last month, Hurricane Katrina was the world’s costliest insurance event, generating around 600,000 claims.

“This puts what has happened in Canterbury into perspective. With over 300,000 claims already received by EQC it highlights the amount of work still needing to be done.”

Following the events of February 22, EQC moved quickly to assess all Christchurch properties using a rapid assessment programme, from which homes were prioritised for full assessment based on degrees of damage. Nearly 7000 full assessments have been completed by EQC since late March.