The earthquake did not break me. EQC Can Do It: Lessons From Christchurch Help Transition

file image. Photo: RNZ/Nick Munro

Parliament is considering a new bill aimed at making life easier for people whose lives have been affected by major disasters, including the human catastrophe caused by the failures of the Earthquake Commission in its response to the Christchurch earthquake 11 years ago.

A public inquiry by the Earthquake Commission, led by Ms. Sylvia Cartwright, yielded a report two years ago that highlighted the shameful and inept handling of nearly half a million post-earthquake claims.

As Labor MP Ingrid Leary told the House, there were many claimants who went through the correspondence, “who talked about lack of operating procedures, poor communication, repeating details of their case over and over to different people, which was — the shock and the delay in resolving things.”

One person said in his message, ‘The earthquake didn’t break me. ‘CAD EQC did’.

“So there were high levels of stress, reports of suicidal feelings, post-traumatic stress, the effects of living in earthquake-damaged homes for months — or, as we’ve heard from Nicola Gregg, even for years — and ongoing injuries,” Leary explained.

“The investigation heard about the pressure on valuations, quantity over quality, that evaluators sometimes have to appraise up to five homes a day, and people admit they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers, sometimes giving up trying to get the claims they were entitled to. , because they have given up the battle with the Earthquake Commission.”

In an effort to prevent this type of torture, and to prioritize the needs of the claimants, the government adopted most of the recommendations of the investigation report, incorporating them into the Natural Hazards Insurance Bill that would replace the Seismic Commission Act 1993 and change the name of the Earthquake Commission to Toka Tū Ake – Natural Hazards Commission.

Introduced by David Clark, Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission, the bill proposes a code of conduct that defines the rights of claimants, and provides for a dispute resolution service, among other things.

He said during the discussion about the first reading of Bill’s draft.

“Many of those living in mixed-use buildings across Canterbury, and again in Wellington, after the Kaikoura earthquake, had difficulty resolving multiple insurance claims for damage to their building or complex. The bill proposes clearer and easier rules for determining the amount of compensation. to be paid.

“The proposed changes will make it easier for people with supporting walls, bridges and arches to understand what compensation they would receive if they were damaged.”

According to Clark, the bill spells out regulations regarding the repair of buildings and land after a landslide or other damage to the land.

It also sets a date for an increase in the $300,000 EQC cap to take effect. Increasing the EQC cap should result in lower premiums for many New Zealanders as Crown absorbs liability and risk from private insurers.”

Jerry Brownlee, the former minister who led the previous national government’s response to the earthquake disaster, welcomed the move to double the cap to $300,000 — and beat it.

He said it had been difficult for anyone to prepare for major disasters, but described the new bill as coming in time.

“EQC cannot go away, nor can the arrangements of natural hazards that will come next. They are there permanently, and these claims are not closed. And this, I believe, has caused a great deal of difficulty for successive governments as they have dealt with those very issues.” But I think it’s important that that remains an open aspect of this type of coverage.

“EQC has been one of the largest buyers of reinsurance of any company in the world. It’s something we might be fighting for. We only cover 5 million people. We cover only a few million residences located across the country. But, no less, because they were one big buyer, they were able to buy very well,” according to Brownlee.

The bill extends the commission’s jurisdiction to also include other natural hazards such as tsunamis, landslides, hydrothermal or volcanic activity, floods, storms or natural hazard fires.

However, National’s Stewart Smith identified a hole the size of a space rock in Bell.

“I think it’s Clause 23 where it sets out the events that the commission will cover. It doesn’t include meteor strikes – an extremely unlikely event, but something that could actually happen. In fact, meteorite strikes are covered by reinsurance, and most current insurance policies – but not all, But some of them – they cover meteor strikes. “If we had some kind of social insurance cost, that would definitely be one of the things that would have to be covered,” Smith said.

After passing its first reading, the natural hazard insurance bill now goes to the Finance and Expenditure Committee for consideration, and they will solicit public opinions on it.

The RNZ House – Parliamentary Legislation, Issues and Ideas – was made with Parliament funding.

— By Johnny Blades, House journalist

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