The Christchurch city in New Zealand faced a major crisis five years ago. Mother Nature hit the area with a massive earthquake of a magnitude of 6.3 that destroyed millions worth of properties, not to mention the lives that were lost on that particular day. Coming up from such a blow has been a daunting task for the locals in the area, especially due to the insurance claims taking a little too much time to process payments. The insurance companies in the state have, however, claimed that the compensation process is much slower than usual due to the difficulty in collaborating with the earthquake agency of the government.

Earthquake Commission

The EQC is a government agency that is responsible for compensating damaged residential houses up to a value of $66,000. Premises requiring renovation more than the set amount are left to be settled by private insurance firms. There was, however, uproar by the civilians on why it was taking the state so much time to rebuild residential houses. They have also expressed their thoughts and they think that the state has been a bit too lenient with the private insurers on compensation issues.

Way Forward?

The main question is how do the locals arise from such a mess? It has been five years since the ordeal but a larger part of the affected are not yet compensated. The New Zealand insurance council is a body that represents insurance firms in the state. It recently gave a declaration that 9 out of 10 insurance claims have been settled. There are plans underway on constructing the city back to its initial glory as well. This could be a long-term project when considering the initial state of the city and its current one.

Rebuilding Plan

The rebuilding plan entailed division of the Christchurch area into four distinct areas. These areas are white, red, orange and green zones. The division of these areas was based on the severity of the damages done in the area by the earthquake. The renovation is done categorically according to the needs and requirements that each section needs. The red zone is an area that is not to be rebuilt as it was most affected. People who had property in red zone areas were advised to proceed and look for new settlement areas in other zones to avoid the possibility of being affected by an earthquake again. The green zone, on the other hand, is doing well and is focusing on restoring the economic class of the city. The green zone is basically the central business district of the area.

Basically, the construction plan is on-going and so are the compensations. Within a small, extended period of time, everybody will have been restored to their previous financial state before the earthquake. Christchurch city should be back to life and very vibrant in a span of 5 years, according to the plan given by the state architects.