$6.8b paid out to Canterbury quake claims

Aerial view of liquefaction and earthquake damaged houses in Burwood, Christchurch. Photo / Geoff Sloan

Eighty-five percent of Canterbury claims have been settled by the Earthquake Commission, which has paid out $6.8 billion in settlements.

Claims on 143,900 properties had been resolved, EQC chief executive Ian Simpson said.

"Of the 169,000 claims on properties damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes between September 2010 and December 2011, we've resolved claims on 143,900 properties," Mr Simpson said.

Cash settlements were paid out to 63,400 properties.

22,500 claims of over $100,000 were passed on to private insurers.

58,000 properties were repaired through the Canterbury Home Repair Programme for damage between $15,000 and $100,000.

However, some of the remaining claims were likely to spill into 2015.

"The majority of these claims will be where the owners have chosen to defer work or have selected their own contractor who will not be able to do the work until 2015. There are also some claims where disputes or engineering issues need to be resolved," Mr Simpson said.

EQC settled 59 per cent of 72,000 green zone land claims including the Port Hills claims and a large proportion of straightforward flat land claims.

"There are about 12,000 complex claims involving Increased Flood Vulnerability and/or Increased Liquefaction Vulnerability that require further engineering and valuation work before we can settle them. The majority of these claims will be settled in 2015," Mr Simpson said.