Brownlee: Earthquake expected
Earthquake minister Gerry Brownlee said the jolt on Sunday may have been ‘‘frightening’’ but was expected.
There had been no extensive injuries or deaths to his knowledge, and engineers reported little damage.
All building claims would go through EQC, but Brownlee was not expecting a ‘‘significant’’ number; he would assess the situation today.
‘‘The very important thing to remember is a lot of the rebuild in Christchurch. . . have been built to very, very high standards and are unlikely to have suffered significant damage.’’
‘‘While this is very frightening for people, and believe me I understand how frightening it is, we are still within the decay curve that was produced after the Feb 22 earthquake. The decay curve said right out to the 30 year horizon, you can expect a declining amount of seismic activity
EQC engineers were in the field looking at building damage that may have occurred in the east, while rockfall and landslips in the Port Hills were being assessed by LINZ engineers.
‘‘It’s expected that a lot of that will confirm that the decisions that we’ve made about the red zones have been the right ones,’’ he said.
Cantabrians had been ‘‘pretty amazing’’ in enduring quakes for last five years, and Brownlee said ‘‘we just need to take it in our stride’’ for the next couple of decades.
He could not say what percentage of buildings have were earthquake-strengthened, but said thousands of houses that were rebuilt were built up to current building standards.
Labour’s Canterbury spokesperson Megan Woods said if there was damage to properties, there would have to be a good process for people making insurance claims.
‘‘It’s a matter of waiting to see what kind of level of damage will get reported in,’’ she said.
‘‘We don’t want people, five years on from today, still locked in a battle over those claims.’’
She had been out at a family event at Barrington Park with fellow Labour MP Ruth Dyson. During the quake people at the park ‘‘were literally holding on to each other’’ and event-goers were worried the shaking would escalate.