The Earthquake Commission (
EQC) has started settling claims for increased liquefaction vulnerability (ILV) in what is a world first move, the
EQC has revealed.
EQC head of Canterbury land settlement, Keith Land, said the settlements would go to 4,400 customers whose properties had qualified as having ILV following the 2010-2011 earthquakes.
Land said the settlements were a world first, similar to increased flooding vulnerability (IFV).
“Each qualified property is being assessed and will be cash settled on a case by case basis as we have done to date with other forms of land damage resulting from these earthquakes.
“Similar to IFV land damage, settlement of ILV land damage is a world first.
“This type of land damage has not been covered by insurance anywhere else, so considerable work was required to get the engineering and methodologies right,” Land said.
“We want to make sure that the final settlements are based on a robust and appropriate settlement process so that customers can have confidence their claims for ILV land damage have been paid consistently and fairly.”
The work to identify ILV land damage entailed GNS reports, geotechnical drilling and monitoring of the groundwater.
Land said he expected at least two thirds of ILV customers would receive settlements based on the reduction in their properties’ market value.
The remaining third of ILV customers were being assessed for a settlement based on the cost to repair the ILV land damage.
“This will generally be in situations where the house has already been, or will be, rebuilt or removed due to the earthquake damage.”
