Hawke's Bay earthquake claims mount up

Kaikoura is still cut off following the earthquake on November 14, and claims are flooding in from throughout the country.

As of yesterday morning, more than 100 Hawke's Bay claims had been lodged with the Earthquake Commission as a result of the 7.8 magnitude Kaikoura earthquake on September 14.

Of the total 111 claims received from Hawke's Bay, an EQC spokesperson said 57 came from the Hastings district, 43 from Napier City and 11 from Central Hawke's Bay.

At this point he said they only had the overall numbers and could not provide a regional breakdown of the claim types.

Across the country a total of 7723 claims have been lodged following the devastating quake that has left Kaikoura cut off and many Wellington buildings closed.

Meanwhile, Hawke's Bay Civil Defence said yesterday that aftershocks were continuing but GNS Science predicted these would decrease in frequency.

According to GNS information, however, there was a 90 per cent chance of aftershocks between 6 and 6.9 within the next 30 days.

The threat of aftershocks meant adequate numbers of Hawke's Bay Civil Defence staff were still on duty in Hawke's Bay, but several had headed to the National Crisis Management Centre based in the Beehive, Wellington, to help with response efforts.

On Thursday last week, three staff were at the Beehive, with another due to join them on Saturday, said Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management controller Ian Macdonald.

"More Hawke's Bay staff are likely to join the response efforts this week, with some heading into the affected areas," said Mr Macdonald.

"As the incident management teams on the ground need a break we will send more resources down to assist."

Mr Macdonald said that while it was important to help, it was also important to retain enough staff here to deal with the impact of any significant aftershocks on Hawke's Bay.

The Kaikoura earthquake was the largest recorded in New Zealand since the 7.8 magnitude Dusky Sound earthquake in 2009, but given its location, it was more widely felt and more damaging.

The earthquake activity caused tsunami and landslides, and Geonet reminded people that if an earthquake was too strong to stand up in, or lasted longer than a minute, to move inland or to a higher point immediately; don't wait for a siren or further information.