Southern View: September 27, 2016

SOUTHERN VIEW Tuesday September 27 2016 13
EQC UPDATE KEEPING YOU INFORMED | SEPTEMBER 2016
EQC confirms Canterbury staff numbers for 2017
The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has
confirmed the shape of the organisation
for 2017, including the number of positions
in Canterbury.
“As our work in Canterbury enters its final phase
in 2017, we will obviously need to be smaller.
From January 2017, EQC will be an organisation
of about 458 people. Of these, at least 216 will
be based in Christchurch,” EQC Chief Executive
Ian Simpson says.
“The new structure retains a core of specialist staff
who will continue to meet the needs of our
remaining Canterbury customers.
“In 2017, EQC will continue to resolve remedial
inquiries on properties where we have managed a
repair, and to resolve claims for drains damaged by
the earthquakes. There is also a range of
administrative and financial tasks to be completed,”
Mr Simpson says.
Remedial inquiries
An important focus for EQC in 2017 will be resolving
the remaining remedial inquiries from Canterbury
customers who have had a managed repair.
With about 68,000 managed repairs carried out as
part of the Canterbury Home Repair Programme
(CHRP) largely completed, EQC and Fletcher EQR
have jointly agreed a new approach to completing
the remaining remedial work in Canterbury.
From January 2017, EQC will expand its role
managing all remedial inquiries to include
management of any resulting remedial repairs.
This means it will liaise with customers and
contractors to complete any additional work, where
it’s required.
“The new approach will streamline decision making
by bringing all the elements of resolving remedial
inquiries into one organisation,” Mr Simpson says.
Fletcher has agreed to continue its role in 2017 but
likely with a smaller team and a focus on managing
any underfloor work arising from the joint CHRP
subfloor review. More detailed proposals on this
will be finalised over the next month or two.
As well as its work in Canterbury for 2017, EQC
needs to be ready to respond to any future natural
disaster events anywhere in New Zealand and
continue its work of negotiating and managing
natural disaster reinsurance for the country. EQC
will also continue settling the average 5,000 to
EQC Chief Executive Ian Simpson
8,000 natural disaster claims received nationally
each year, funding research to the tune of $16
million per year, and educating the public on
natural hazards and how to mitigate them.
3,000 kids descend on the Alpine Fault
Expert Sam and teacher Shelley talk about tsunami risk on the West Coast.
EQC’s newest virtual field trip,
“Geohazards”, was launched
last month with 130 classes
taking part (that’s over 3,000
Kiwi kids). The CORE Education
LEARNZ virtual field trips allow
New Zealand’s school children to
visit some of our most fascinating
locations without having to leave
the classroom. From Cape
Reinga to the Bluff – we’ve got
you covered.
A LEARNZ teacher travels alongside
subject experts to go on location
and communicate their
experiences with students through
online video and audio feeds.
The trips are designed to help
improve understanding of
geohazards, how we as a nation
manage those hazards, and to raise
awareness of EQC’s role in helping
build New Zealand’s resilience.
Last month’s trip was the ninth
funded by EQC and it explored
earthquakes, landslips and tsunami
on the West Coast as well as what
might happen when the Alpine
Fault next ruptures.
On the Coast, LEARNZ teacher
Shelley Hersey joined Alistair
Davies, a natural hazards PhD
student from the University of
Canterbury, and Dr Sam Hampton,
organiser of geology field
programmes in New Zealand and
University of Canterbury lecturer.
They showed students where you
can see the Alpine Fault in the
landscape, they pointed out scars
created by past earthquakes and
explained how tsunami, in lakes as
well as the sea, could be triggered
by quakes.
All our field trips are created so
that teachers can continue to use
them anytime. To experience this
virtual field trip and more, visit
www.learnz.org.nz
$25million paid out for Feb 2016 quake claims
The Earthquake Commission has passed the
halfway mark for settling the February 2016
earthquake claims, says EQC’s February
2016 Event Response Manager, Jayne Lapin.
Ms Lapin says that of the total 14,574
claims received for the 14 and 29 February
earthquakes this year, followed by the
aftershocks, EQC has resolved 8,595
by cash settlement of just over $25 million
as at 19 September.
“You can tell that Cantabrians know what is
and isn’t earthquake damage, because up to
75% of the claims received so far have been
accepted, and average $4,761 per claim.
“With the help of customers providing most
information up front – claims are taking an
average of three weeks to reach settlement.”
she said.
Ms Lapin says it is heartening to see that the new
approach which uses both on site and phonebased
assessments has empowered customers to
provide their earthquake damage data,
supported by photographs, was working well.
“We have been surveying every customer who
has been through the process and whose claims
have been resolved – whether their claims were
accepted or declined. We wanted to see how
the process worked so we could make changes
as we went where we needed to.
“To date, 87% agreed that EQC valued and used
their time wisely when dealing with them
through the claims process.
EQC will have contacted almost every customer
to discuss the details of their February claims by
the end of September to book their assessment.
“This means that, other than people who delay
their claim or whom we can’t get hold of, we will
meet our target to resolve all claims by the end of
2016, hopefully earlier,” Ms Lapin said.
EQC is continuing to work with customers who
have lodged claims from the Canterbury sequence
earthquakes, including those in the Canterbury
Home Repair (CHRP) and land programmes, and
the settlement of the February claims will not slow
the progress of these programmes.
EQC sets out
process for
remedial requests
The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has streamlined
its process for handling new remedial requests from
customers received from 1 August, 2016.
EQC’s Head of Dwelling Settlement, Michael Price, says
the new process aims for faster resolution with customers
having the opportunity to provide information upfront and
state their preference for a cash settlement or a managed
repair where remedial work is required.
The changes have been introduced after positive
customer feedback on the process used to manage
claims from the February 2016 earthquake, where
customers had the opportunity to submit more
information upfront to enable quicker turnaround.
“Many customers going through the February 2016
claims management process are positive or very positive
about their experience,” Mr Price says.
“EQC will now use this approach for new remedial
requests, and customers will be asked to send in
information such as photographs and builders’ quotes.”
Mr Price says while cash settlement will provide a quicker
resolution, it may not suit everyone.
“So if a customer prefers that a contractor do the work,
then EQC will arrange for that to happen during 2017.
EQC’s Community Contact Team and independent
customer advocate groups will be available to support
any cash-settled customers who aren’t confident in
sourcing their own contractors,” says Mr Price.
Of the approximate 6,900 open remedial requests
currently on EQC’s books, 3,000 properties have been
identified as not being able to have any remedial repair
completed before 2017. The new process, while largely
designed for new remedial requests, will be available to
these customers also and EQC is making contact with
them to ask if they would prefer a cash settlement or wait
for a managed repair during 2017.
CONTACT EQC AT 0800 DAMAGE (0800 326 243) OR VISIT WWW.EQC.GOVT.NZ