Claims roll in as city picks up pieces

Nearly 500 Cantabrians have suffered fresh damage to their homes and more are expected to lodge insurance claims following Sunday’s magnitude-5.7 equake.

Yesterday, many public buildings, schools and walking tracks around Christchurch were closed while damage was assessed. Several major retail developments in the city centre were quiet.

By the end of the day almost all public buildings were open, having been inspected by engineers and cleared of serious damage and all bridges, roads and the Lyttelton tunnel were open.

The Linwood Service Centre, in the Eastgate shopping mall, was the only council-owned facility still closed while minor repairs were made, the city council said.

Land Information NZ said demolition of Crown-owned properties in the Port Hills had been suspended until sites were inspected.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said the Earthquake Commission ( EQC) had received 496 new claims by Monday afternoon. 220 were contents claims, he said. The rest were for ‘‘a mixture of land and building damage’’ .

‘‘Given the general analysis that was around late [Sunday] afternoon, I think it’s about right.

‘‘The numbers will track up over the next short while as people get past the initial shock of the event and will find something broken or otherwise.’’

Brownlee wanted to reassure people that the natural disaster fund is backed up by the Crown and ‘‘there is no question that there’ll be any shortfall in EQC being able to meet its obligations’’.

Properties affected by liquefaction would be seen ‘‘pretty quickly’’ because evidence could disappear, he said.

People who have suffered damage to their home, land or contents have three months to lodge a claim with the EQC.

Engineers inspected hundreds of buildings on Monday and found mostly superficial damage. They also assessed schools and workplaces for structural damage.

Beca Canterbury rebuild business director Keith Paterson said the firm had inspected nearly 100 buildings and fit-outs since Sunday’s quake. Many more were booked for the coming week.

‘‘The most common damage is non-structural and cosmetic,’’ Paterson said.

‘‘As expected, the work done over the last few years appears to have been effective to reduce risk to the community and improve the resilience of infrastructure.’’

Tonkin + Taylor Christchurch manager Peter Cochrane said about 12 staff were assessing areas where there were landslides and liquefaction. The firm had done inspections in at least 11 suburbs, mainly in the east and Port Hills, and advised EQC of its findings.

According to Geonet, there had been more than 50 aftershocks.

There were 25 aftershocks above magnitude 2.0 in the 12 hours to 6am on Monday. The biggest was a ‘‘strong’’ magnitude 4.2 at 6.27pm. Two ‘‘moderate’’ jolts were recorded overnight on Sunday – a magnitude 3.9 at 8.34pm and a 3.5 at 4.33am.

Geonet said strong aftershocks were possible in the next seven days. There was a 19 per cent probability of one or more 5.0 to 5.9-magnitude quakes in the next week. An earthquake measuring 6.0 to 6.9 had a 2 per cent probability and an aftershock of magnitude 7 or more had less than a 1 per cent probability.

The last time Christchurch experienced an earthquake rivalling Sunday’s magnitude-5.7 was on May 25, 2012 when a magnitude5.2 struck 20km east of the city.

Prime Minister John Key said it was a ‘‘powerful and painful blow’’ to residents, but the city had held up well.

‘‘On the other side of the coin, they can take great comfort from the fact that the buildings, from what we can see, came through well. The reconstruction has been done at a high level. They arguably are in the safest city in New Zealand from that regard,’’ he told

Radio New Zealand.

Key said the quake was not expected to affect Government-involved rebuild projects in the city.