New Zealand earthquake – the aftermath

December 15th, 2011

It was announced in August that the expected cost of claims the New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC) faces from the Canterbury earthquakes had risen from $3 billion to $7.1 billion. In addition, the New Zealand High Court has ruled that the EQC is responsible for multiple claims on one property resulting from the multiple events that have occurred. Prime Minister John Key has suggested this decision could add a further $1 billion of claims cost to the EQC.

In this article, John Smeed examines the background of seismic activity in New Zealand, the development of the EQC and provides a brief review of the Canterbury earthquakes. He then looks at the approaches to earthquake cover adopted in Japan and California.

This article was published in the Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance in October 2011.

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