Earthquake cash flows for Christchurch

Wreckage is strewn over the road from a building on Manchester St. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Stricken homeowners and workers will start receiving compensation and emergency payouts within days as Christchurch reels from violent aftershocks and a quake bill that now threatens to exceed $2 billion.

At least 100,000 houses have been damaged, and 22,000 homeowners had lodged claims with the Earthquake Commission by 5pm last night.

The first of these claimants would probably start receiving payments next week, said commission insurance manager Lance Dixon.

Other homeowners may have to wait up to a year for a payout.

The cover, available only to people with house and contents insurance, gives a maximum of $100,000 plus goods and services tax and personal effects up to $20,000 plus GST.

In other developments:

* Police said last night that the number of family violence incidents in Christchurch had soared more than 50 per cent since the quake, because of "significant stress". Other offences, including burglary, had fallen.

* The Government last night announced an emergency $350-a-week wage subsidy for businesses with fewer than 20 employees which can't trade or pay staff because of earthquake damage. It will last for four weeks and businesses will be able to re-apply after that.

* Christchurch schools will stay closed until Monday at the earliest because of safety and health fears.

* At least two inner-city heritage buildings will be demolished soon because of fears they will collapse.

The Earthquake Commission said yesterday the cost of damage to homes from Saturday's earthquake was likely to be close to $2 billion - the original Treasury estimate for total damage.

The commission deals only with claims from house owners, not from businesses.

Its original damage estimate was between $1 billion and $2 billion, but it said the cost was likely to be at the upper end of that range.

The number of claims has overwhelmed the commission. Many people could not make contact because of overloaded phone lines and insufficient call centre staff.

"We are rapidly increasing numbers of lines and call centre staff, and expect the problem will ease over the next few days," commission chief executive Ian Simpson said.

Christchurch was rocked by three solid jolts late on Monday and early yesterday.

Civil Defence has told people in the quake-hit Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn districts to be prepared for continuing aftershocks for several weeks.

The area has had about 300 jolts since the first 7.1 magnitude quake.

From today, the commission will have 36 assessors in Christchurch. More are expected over the next few weeks as well as engineers and support staff at 10 field offices.

Top priority will go to claims for houses which are uninhabitable or not weatherproof.

"It's the biggest event like this that New Zealand has ever had ... I guess it is something that is quite extraordinary but we will be working as quickly as humanly possible," said Mr Dixon.

Claimants had three months to lodge their claims and should receive written confirmation within a week.

Canterbury Master Builders Association president Richard Field said that despite the damage to thousands of homes, he was sure the local industry would be able to cope with the demand.

"Later on next year might be a different story, but it will be months before they start rebuilding houses and we'll be more than ready," he said.

Mr Field said cherry-pickers and cranes were at a premium in Christchurch because chimneys on hundreds of homes had to be removed or weatherproofed.

The Christchurch City Council said its staff, the Fire Service and Urban Search and Rescue had dealt with thousands of calls about houses and had assisted homeowners in securing houses, removing chimneys and ensuring access to properties.

The council said most of the city centre was back to normal, and businesses and services were running as usual.

All 678 buildings in the central business district had been inspected.

Sixty-nine per cent had been declared safe, 5 per cent unsafe, and 26 per cent had damage and could be open only for limited access.

Civil Defence said less than 5 per cent of city properties were without water although residents are still being advised to boil drinking water.

Staff repaired 100 leaking water pipes, returning water to 21 streets. Water is still off in 38 streets.

Lines company Orion was confident only 500 of its customers would be still without power last night.

But Orion chief executive Roger Sutton said the power network was still fragile.

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NZPA