Thousands of claims for Cook Strait quake damage

Damage in Wellington from the earthquake that shook the Capital in July. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Earthquake Commission has received more than 6000 claims over the Cook Strait quakes which rattled central New Zealand in July.

Yesterday was the deadline for claims to EQC over the second of two major quakes that struck near Seddon, causing damage to homes and businesses in the Marlborough and Wellington regions.

Claimants still have until next month to lodge claims over a third major quake which struck almost a month later.

An EQC spokesman said it had received 6179 claims relating to the July quakes and 11,229 claims relating to all the Cook Strait quakes in total.

There were 786 claims over the magnitude 5.7 quake on July 19, and 5393 claims over the more destructive magnitude 6.5 quake on July 21.

Claims over the magnitude 6.6 quake on August 16, which has attracted 5050 claims so far, can be made until November 18.

EQC has already paid out $3.3 million to South Island claimants and $620,000 to North Island claimants.

Of the claims so far, about a third came from Marlborough, while the rest were from the North Island, predominantly the Wellington region.

The capital city accounted for about 34 per cent of claims, Lower Hutt 10-11 per cent, Kapiti 7 per cent, and Upper Hutt and Porirua some 4 per cent each.

The total cost of damage from all the quakes is estimated to be about $50m.