To many of us outside the earthquake affected area of Canterbury it appears that the rebuild is progressing with integrity, albeit slowly. The reality for many in Canterbury is very different.
Insurance companies have been taking the opportunity of delays due to the ongoing tremors to reclassify as ‘repairable' homes previously assessed as needing full rebuilds.
My brother's home was built in the 1990' of brick and tile on a concrete slab. The home suffered significantly through liquifaction in the first September 2010 quake and many neighbouring houses partly collapsed and were condemned.
The concrete slab has slumped in several areas with at least three large cracks opening up across the floor of the house. Doors including the garage no longer align and close properly and some frames are visibly buckled. The joinery has been stressed in the movements and the windows are now ‘loaded up' with tension.
Assessors classified the home as a full rebuild in 2010. A second group appeared months later and suggested that the home may be repairable. A third and officially final assessment declared the damage structural and extensive with a full rebuild required. This was officially documented. The family joined the long queue and waited for a timetable.
Recently a fourth team arrived. Previous maximum allowable damage levels have been relaxed and there are suggestions that pouring resin or grout into the cracks may be sufficient to ‘repair' the damage. The family had to move out of the home while a 5th group pull all the coverings off to check further.
Geologically, the ground under the house has now been assessed as of insufficient strength to support standard foundations..
As a rebuild, the house will now need substantially stronger footings and foundation work than it currently has. Yet the insurance company is claiming that cosmetic repairs to the damaged, now classified substandard even if undamaged foundations will make for an effective repair. They have not stated quite how they intend to raise the slumped areas and straighten the joinery. There are many, many people in similar situations.
The National Government has adopted a completely disinterested attitude and signalled the insurance companies to act as they like.
It is hard for the public outside of Canterbury to maintain interest in the longer term effects of an event such as this, but I hope that they, the media and opposition parties will bring pressure to bear on the insurance companies and on the government to ensure the insurance companies deliver ethically what they promise in their policies. It could be us one day.

Mike Kuipers von Lande,
Mount Maunganui.