About 4500 Christchurch homeowners have been told they have Increased Liquefaction Vulnerability (ILV) as a consequence of the 2010-2011 series of earthquakes and will be compensated.
That number may seem low, given the extensive land damage the city suffered, but properties in the red zone that would also have increased vulnerability are now mostly owned by the Crown and will not need compensation.
EQC staff have been holding meetings with homeowners in St Albans and other places to explain what happened to the land after the earthquakes and to explain in greater detail, with animated diagrams, what this did to affected properties and to answer homeowners’ questions.
The keyword in this is ‘increased’.
Many properties that experienced repeated liquefaction may not be eligible for the cash settlement because their risk stayed the same or property values were not impacted.
Homeowners will either be cash settled to carry out repairs to their land if possible (usually where there is no building standing) or will be compensated for the loss in value of their property as a result of ILV.
Parts of eastern Christchurch are not only lower than they were before they have a thinner “crust” between the surface and the water table level that makes them more vulnerable.
The compensation for increased vulnerability is a world first, both for liquefaction and for flooding. EQC has worked out who is eligible based on extensive engineering work carried out throughout the city in 2012 and 2013.
Some properties may also be eligible for compensation under the Increased Flooding Vulnerability, a separate category also administered by EQC.
For more detailed information, videos and diagrams explaining increased liquefaction vulnerability and how EQC is assessing this at the individual property level visit: the EQC website
There is an ILV meeting at Beulah Church in Springfield Road at 7pm on January 20.
