Lyttelton Timeball Station is damaged following strong aftershocks in Lyttelton, Christchurch, New Zealand, Tuesday, June 14, 2011. (AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, Mark Mitchell)
NU Online News Service, June 14, 2:26 p.m. EDT
Catastrophe risk modeler EQECAT says the latest earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand is expected to cause an additional $3 billion to $5 billion in insured losses.
Quakes with magnitudes of 5.2 and 6.0 shook the area of Christchurch during the afternoon of June 13. The region has been victimized by three strong earthquakes within the last year.
An earthquake in February tacked $8 billion to $12 billion in insured losses on to an estimate of $4 billion to $6 billion in insured losses from a temblor last September, says EQECAT in a report.
The February quake leveled about one-third of the buildings in the Christchurch commercial-business district, and there are reports of newly collapsed buildings and more disruptions to utilities and infrastructure from the latest earthquake, whose epicenter was about six miles from the Christchurch business district. This is very close to the epicenter of the February quake, EQECAT says.
The modeler says the June 13 quake is not expected to cause much damage to buildings left standing after the February quake, but it “will cause incremental damage and loss.”
EQECAT adds, “The continuation of this sequence of damaging earthquakes to Christchurch along unknown fault structures is delaying the recovery and restoration efforts.”
