100,000 houses damaged by New Zealand earthquake as repair bill tops £1.8bn

By James White

Cracking up: A young man walks in a large earthquake crack in the ground in Kaiapoi near Christchurch, New Zealand following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake which is set to cost £1.8bn to repair damage


The cost of repairing the damage sustained during the 7.1-magnitude New Zealand earthquake will reach more than £1.8bn, it was estimated today.

The NZ $4bn bill was almost double initial figures which rose as the government agreed to pay a subsidy to businesses in order to continue paying wages despite being closed.

A total of 100,000 houses were damaged by the earthquake and more than 30 aftershocks, with 500 buildings condemned so far.

New Zealanders continued to pull together to repair the paralysed city of Christchurch which still remains in a state of emergency.

Treasury Secretary John Whitehead revealed the damage assessment after Prime Minister John Key predicted the weekend earthquake would hurt economic recovery from an 18-month recession.


Demolition: A digger is used to tear down a badly-damaged building, one of thousands severely affected by the tremors in Christchurch


Luckily, the country's government-backed natural disaster insurance scheme the Earthquake Commission (EQC) has built up a multi-billion NZ dollar fund.

However, Dr Whitehead said Treasury was working on the assumption the Earthquake Commission was likely to pay out $2 billion in claims resulting from the earthquake but the wider bill would be far higher.

'If you take the effect on others beyond that you're probably talking about something in order of doubling that,' Dr Whitehead said.

'The costs faced by the EQC, by individuals, by businesses, by insurance companies will probably be in the order of $4 billion.'

One factor that might see it increase was whether homes could be rebuilt on the same land.

'Until geologists and others do their work we don't really know,' he added.


Military precision: Soldier lend a hand to the repair effort as the total bill is expected to top NZ$4bn


Thousands of workers and volunteers cleared rubble in Christchurch today as the city struggled to get back on its feet.

Civil Defence director John Hamilton said public services were being restored in the region, as the city was spared from any more major aftershocks from Saturday's magnitude-7.1 earthquake.

Electric power has been turned on for all but 300 premises and drinking water supplies restored across the city - but Hamilton warned it will take many weeks to restore sewerage systems and more than a year to repair buildings damaged in the quake and hundreds of aftershocks.

Millions of litres of spoiled milk and spilled alcohol from wrecked warehouses were poured into a flooded river and disposed of Thursday, after waste managers agreed the badly hit sewerage system could not cope with the liquids.


Earth moved: An aerial view of how the land bulged upwards during the earthquake taken near Christchurch


No fun: Children are left disappointed when they find the impact of the earthquake on their skate park in Kaiapoi near Christchurch


'We are sucking the milk and alcohol into trucks and disposing of it in the river,' said Don Chittock, hazardous substance manager at Environment Canterbury.

'We're removing one million litres of alcohol from one warehouse alone,' he said.

'There's nothing more heartbreaking than walking into a warehouse and seeing all this red wine, beer and champagne on the floor.'

Across the region, thousands of workers, including hundreds of university student volunteers, worked to clear mud from streets and gardens as inspectors checked building safety.

Mechanical diggers began tearing down unsafe buildings as hundreds of safety inspectors began checks on older commercial premises and thousands of suburban houses badly damaged by the temors.

Up to 100,000 of the city's 160,000 homes were damaged in the quake - about 500 likely will be demolished.


Leap of faith: A boy jumps over a crack in the ground in Kaiapoi near Christchurch


Saturday's powerful earthquake struck at 4:35 a.m. near the South Island city of 400,000 people, ripping open a new fault line in the Earth's surface, smashing buildings and homes, wrecking roads and disrupting the central city.

No one was killed and only two people were seriously injured - which authorities attributed to good building codes and the quake's early morning timing.

The city centre remained cordoned off by troops today, as a state of civil emergency remained in force. Only business owners and workers were allowed access.



source: dailymail