Quake victims paid out over $145m

St Paul's school in Dallington, Christchurch, following the earthquake. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

The Earthquake Commission has paid out more than $145 million to residents affected by the Canterbury earthquake two months ago, a small proportion of the claims for damage as the state insurer continues to be swamped by demand.

The EQC has paid $145.1 million on 12,904 claims for damage to buildings, contents and land from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck the region on September 4.

The insurer, which has received a total of 140,176 claims, was still receiving hundreds of claims a day and urged Canterbury residents to lodge claims as soon as possible if they have not done so.

The damage is expected to cost billions of dollars to fix, and the Insurance Council has called the earthquake the largest single insurance event in New Zealand history.

"Further to that, we believe that EQC itself is handling the largest number of claims ever by any single insurance organisation in the Southern Hemisphere," EQC chief executive Ian Simpson said.

"This has stretched our ability to deal with those claims yet we believe we are making good progress.

"Of course we are fully aware of the frustration of many claimants and grateful that most appreciate the enormity of the task and accept that it will be some time before the process will be complete," he said.

Insurance assessors were averaging more than 800 property inspections a day, with about half of those properties seriously damaged, and half through a fast-track system of claims likely to be under $10,000.

"While we have been concentrating on the areas that have suffered the worst and most widespread damage, we are conscious that there are many people outside Canterbury who have property damage and are awaiting assessment," Mr Simpson said.

Building project manager Fletcher Construction has established its first site office for repairs between $10,000 and $100,000, and work is now expected to start.

As well as claims from Christchurch and surrounding districts, the EQC has received claims from as far afield as Invercargill and Wellington.

- NZPA