State Insurance - work programme has recommenced

State Insurance have released updated information on their work programme, which has just been restarted. The areas of activity will be where there has been no land damage (it is EQC, not insurance companies, who have responsibility for land remediation), and where there is a reduced risk of further earthquake damage. The full information release is here.

The areas where they are working include the following:

• North of Christchurch: including Kaiapoi and the greater Waimakariri District
• Northwest Christchurch: includes Riccarton, Upper Riccarton, Middleton, Oaklands, Halswell (north of Sparks and Halswell Junction Roads), Burnside, Bishopdale, Sockburn, Hornby and Russley
• Rural Canterbury: includes those outside zone properties across the plains from the outskirts of Christchurch, but currently excluding Halswell, Tai Tapu and Lincoln as more time is needed to assess these areas.

Associated with the information release is the following mini-FAQ:

How are you prioritising who gets rebuilt first?
While we appreciate that everybody’s needs are just as important, we can’t get to everyone at once. We have many claims lodged with us and new claims being received every week, which still require assessment. It’s also important to remember the scale of the event – the volume of claims means we have to prioritise claims by location, focusing first on those with uninhabitable homes. Other factors like those who are elderly or impaired and families with young children will also be taken into account.

Within the areas where we can commence work (no land issues and minimal risk of aftershock damage); we’re prioritising claims for severe structural damage first, including homes that are uninhabitable, and businesses with building, plant and stock losses. Houses with minor or no structural damage will be prioritised as efficiently and effectively as possible.

What’s happening to contents and non-EQC claims?

Non-EQC claims will proceed in those areas where our work programme is recommencing. However, we recognise that some of our customers will have suffered significant contents losses and in these instances we can make emergency payments for those in need (even if they live outside the areas we’re currently working in). Please call your claims case manager.

Given the volumes of claims we’re receiving it could be a while before we get to contents and non-EQC claims. That’s why we’re encouraging customers to complete the forms in the Earthquake Claim Pack “Getting started on your contents claim and claims not covered by EQC”. The more information you can provide us now means we’ll have a head start when we get to your claim.

The claims pack mentioned above can be found here.

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