An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 24 September 2011 entitled, "EQC Evaluation".
A blog by an ex-employee of the Earthquake Commission discussing flaws in its handling of insurance claims made as the result of the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.
An elderly Christchurch couple are crying foul over EQC's site visit policy under alert level two. EQC says the measures, outlined in emails to clients, are crucial for staff and customer safety. But John and Frances van Petegem, who have been waiting years to have botched earthquake repairs put right, say EQC's rules are causing further delays and stress. Nick Truebridge has the story.
The former Earthquake Commission minister, Gerry Brownlee, is defending EQC over claims its assessors in Christchurch were not properly qualified. A growing number of homeowners in the city are discovering EQC assessors have completely missed quake damage including broken foundations costing hundreds of thousands to repair. That's been disastrous for people who've bought homes with hidden damage who are sometimes finding private insurers unwilling to cover the cost of putting right mistakes made by EQC. The company hired by EQC to carry out repairs was Fletcher Construction. Its chief executive at the time, Mark Binns, told Checkpoint that EQC probably hired unqualified people to assess quake damaged homes. Gerry Brownlee refused to be drawn on the comments from Mr Binns. But when asked by RNZ Christchurch reporter, Conan Young, if it was acceptable to have retired policemen, school principals and vacuum cleaner salesmen carrying out assessments for EQC, he admitted finding enough people to do the job was a challenge.
Christchurch City Councillor Ali Jones talks about what the cull of EQC staff will mean for life in the post-earthquake city.
Information about the EQC's work to provide natural disaster insurance to residential property owners. Canterbury earthquake related information can be found in the archived instances from September 2010-
Commentary from the cartoonist 'The Earthquake Commission's leak of 83,000 files is like a storyline from Alfred Hitchcock: : a loon attempts to shock a nation that has already been rendered braindead from previous shocks.Note: EQC is ued here as an 'echo' of the term ECT [electro convulsive therapy...ie shock treatment].' In March 2013, there was a massive leak of of some 83,000 EQC files relating to individual claims relating to the Christchurch earthquakes. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
The EQC Minister says she is concerned a threatening letter sent to the Earthquake Commission may have been sent by the same person who sent staff a bullet in the post two years ago. Police are investigating an anonymous threat in a letter sent to EQC staff on the 1st of May. The threat made reference to the Christchurch mosque attacks and has forced EQC to increase security at all its offices. Indira spoke with insurance advocate of 26 years, Dean Lester.
EQC was ill-prepared to deal with the wide spread damage of the Christchurch Earthquakes and as a consequence its reputation been left in tatters with many seeing the commission as uncaring, miserly and inefficient. That is according to the findings of the inquiry into EQC and its handling of quake claims in Canterbury and Kaikōura. Inquiry Chair Dame Silvia Cartwright lays out a raft of inadequacies including EQC not being equiped to handle a mass scale managed repair programme - leading to multiple mistakes, poor staffing decisions and inadequate quality control. Damage assessments were the root of claimants disputes time and time again. Dame Silvia Cartwright described to Checkpoint the way claimants have been treated by EQC.
A Christchurch couple fighting their insurer and the Earthquake Commission in court say accepting EQC's offer would leave them massively out of pocket.
A video of an interview with Sarah O'Brien about the official information requests that she is filing with EQC. O'Brien talks about the substandard living conditions that Cantabrians are having to deal with while they wait for EQC to respond to them.
The government plans to introduce legislation to change the Earthquake Commission's operations, after a report found major failings. It found EQC was woefully unprepared as it dealt with the Canterbury quakes, and made dozens of recommendations about clarifying EQC's role and improving the way it deals with claimants. RNZ political reporter Yvette McCullough has more.
The EQC has got the green light to start settling the claims of thousands of Christchurch people whose homes became more at risk of flooding after the earthquakes.
The Earthquake Commission has already received about 7,000 claims from last week's Kaikoura quake. EQC expects the number of claims to be fewer than in Christchurch.
This research briefing reports on the key findings of a computer-assisted text analysis of records from The Press newspaper related to the Earthquake Commission (EQC) from 2010 to 2019. The briefing has been prepared as a submission to the Public Inquiry into the Earthquake Commission. The aim of producing this research briefing is to provide the Public Inquiry with preliminary findings of a large-scale overview of media coverage on EQC and to identify and quantify key features and trends in public discourse about EQC over time. This research, which aggregates many stories and voices over time, offers a unique lens to view how EQC has been collectively represented, understood and experienced by the people of Canterbury.
There are 1,600 Canterbury homeowners with earthquake claims still open with EQC. About 100 homeowners turned up to a meeting organised by EQC Fix in Christchurch on Monday night - all with stories of home repair hell, botched repairs, or seemingly never-ending arguments with EQC, Southern Response, or their private insurer. They were all tired and wondering why they still had to fight more than nine years on from the first Canterbury Earthquake. Checkpoint video journalist Logan Church travelled to Christchurch to speak to those still fighting for what they believe they are entitled too.
A Christchurch family have found themselves stuck with a house that is too unsafe to live in after a fire revealed earthquake damage, which EQC admits it failed to identify.
As the government eyes an EQC overhaul, Christchurch earthquake insurance specialist Dean Lester wants to see action, not hear more empty words. This after a report yesterday found EQC staff had no confidence in their own data, and the organisation needed to drastically improve its treatment of claimants. The minister in charge of the Earthquake Commission is calling for immediate changes to the organisation.
The EQC says it has enough staff and money in the kitty to respond to the latest earthquakes, despite still having work to do in Christchurch - five years after on.
EQC's manager for the Canterbury home repair programme, Reid Stiven, respondes to claims of misleading estimates of damage to household foundations from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
EQC CEO Sid Miller says the agency is currently defending 316 legal cases over the Christchurch earthquakes, and is considering legal action against Fletcher's for its project management of the repairs.
A graphic giving statistics on EQC claims.
A graphic giving statistics on EQC claims.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 20 January 2013 entitled, "Busking Brothers".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 14 August 2011 entitled, "Building Braced".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Gerry Brownlee (left), EQC CEO Ian Simpson, and geotechnical specialist Nick Rogers explain the EQC plan to remediate land damaged in the Canterbury earthquake".
A table giving numbers of EQC opt-outs.
A chart showing the status of EQC claims.
A chart showing the status of EQC claims.
A page banner promoting an article about EQC.