Special Earthquake Edition 3

Hi everyone,

It’s now over 7 weeks since “E-Day” and many of you are waiting to find out what will happen with your homes.  For me the recovery so far was helped by watching Canterbury bring home the Ranfurly Shield, and the Silver Ferns winning Gold over Australia in the Commonwealth Games – especially after meeting both teams in Wellington just before they left for India, and Saturday’s concert at Hagley Park was just superb. This is a short update about the release of the EQC’s Stage 1 report on damaged land, and about resolving claims between $10,000 and $100,000 (+GST) in value.

Land report results released

The Earthquake Commission’s Stage 1 geotechnical report into land damage was released last week, and it’s largely good news.

Virtually all land in Canterbury can and will be fixed so it is safe to rebuild on.  Only 16 properties have been identified as being individually uneconomic to remediate, and all owners have been visited by an EQC loss adjuster and geotechnical engineer.

Information packs about land damage have been couriered to the 1200 claimants whose properties have been most seriously affected by land damage.

The next step for those people is to work with their private insurer to reach a decision about the future of their house and EQC to complete the suburb-by-suburb repair reports.  This opens the way for those with more than $100,000 in damage to move into the rebuilding stage.  With roughly 3,000 homes in the Northern and Eastern suburbs of Christchurch badly damaged, I know this critical step will help get us back to normal as soon as possible.

I will be holding a public meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday 3 November at Queenspark School, 222 Queenspark Drive, along with the key rebuilding parties to provide an opportunity for more details and questions.   Please RSVP if you are interested in attending to aaron.gilmore@national.org.nz or call 382 5701.

Summary

• EQC have made contact with the roughly 1200 property owners most affected by the Canterbury earthquake.
• Calls were only made to those who are insured and in the most affected land damage zones.  If you got a phone call, EQC is confident your land can be repaired and will along with you and your insurer commence that repair process.  You should make contact with your insurance company.
• If you have not been called, then three implications either;
  • Your land damage is deemed to be minor – once EQC have confirmed this then your claim is now a matter for discussion with your insurance company to move to rebuilding, many of these people have already had pay-outs from EQC for the first $115,000 for their buildings;
  • There may be a small number of instances where isolated land damage has occurred and it has not been picked up by the stage 1 report.   In this case, please let my office know; or
  • If EQC has not seen your property yet and you think it has more than $100,000 in damage, let my office know.  If you have only minor damage please be patient as it may take a number of months to get to you.

The path to rebuilding: Project management appointment welcomed

Fletcher Construction has been appointed by the Earthquake Commission to run its Canterbury earthquake project management office.

The office will coordinate and manage building repairs valued between $10,000 and $100,000.

The project management means the EQC can swiftly deliver high standard repairs while controlling costs.

Fletcher Construction was chosen via tender process to coordinate the moderate to serious repairs necessary on about 50,000 homes in Canterbury.

They will have people on the ground, which is great for those of us whose homes suffered damage in the quake.  They are looking for people to help as well, see http://www.eqr.co.nz/ for further information.

Cantabrians will benefit from the strength of a major construction firm managing the process, while local builders will get a fair share of the work.

Residents will be able to see project management sites set up in their suburbs, and builders getting on with the job will come as a great relief.

Claims for damage above EQC’s cap of $100,000 plus GST will be handled by commercial insurers in accordance with their policies.

Sewer issues remain in isolated areas

In parts of Dallington, Burwood and Brooklands I know sewer issues remain a problem. http://www.ccc.govt.nz/homeliving/civildefence/chchearthquake/environment.aspx has further details on what to do if you still have concerns and shows the areas likely to still have problems.  I do know that there have been some mistakes in communication by the Council in Brooklands and I have asked for these to be rectified.

For those of you in business and facing quake issues either with your insurer or trading in general, I would like to hear from you.

This is a deliberately short update, but if you have any questions or issues with the process above or if I’ve missed anything, feel free to give my office a call on 382 5701.

Aaron Gilmore

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