Claims resulting from the Darfield Earthquake and aftershocks now total close to 170,000 according to disaster insurer EQC.
Tuesday 18th January 2011
Latest figures for the number of claims lodged following the Darfield earthquake of the 4th of September 2010 and its aftershocks are now close to 170,000. Three significant aftershocks have now been identified in EQC’s claim statistics. They are 19 October (2,483 claims), 14 November (2,007 claims) and Boxing Day (7,767 claims). The Darfield mainshock itself attracted 157,411 claims. As of today, a total of 169,668 claims.
The shallow magnitude 4.9 aftershock of December 26th, located closer to Christchurch than the main earthquake, has now become a sizeable event in its own right. This aftershock alone has attracted more claims than the magnitude 6.8 earthquake located off the coast near Gisborne in December 2007, the last significant earthquake covered by EQC prior to the Darfield event. The Gisborne quake resulted in 6,200 claims.
About half of the claims lodged for the Canterbury earthquakes still require attention.
Of those that have been examined, EQC reports that about a third are considered complete, fieldwork has been completed for another third and about a third are currently being examined in the field.
The 170,000 individual claims have been broken down further to separate out the number of properties affected, contents claims and land claims. Payments so far total $626.6 million.
Building claims have been lodged for 156,272 properties. Payments of $553.7 million have been made for 55,495 of these claims.
Contents claims have been lodged for 53,213 properties. To date, 72.8 million has been paid for 37,756 of these.
22,885 land claims have been lodged with EQC. 23 payments totalling $42.988 million have been made.
In December, prior to the Boxing Day aftershock, 160,641 claims had been lodged with EQC. By far, the largest number had been lodged from the Christchurch area (125,964 claims) with Waimakariri next at 11,901 Selwyn at 11,688 and Timaru at 4,142. After Ashburton (3,589 claims) and Hurunui district at 1,083 numbers dropped significantly as the distance from the earthquake epicentre increased. Even so, 58 claims were lodged from Wellington and 19 from Lower Hutt in the North Island.
[ Compiled from EQC media releases, EQC’s Canterbury Earthquake website and Ru Whenua issue 21 (EQC), December 2010. ]