The recent earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand on September 4th which registered Mw7.0 on the Richter scale has been cited as the most damaging the country has seen in more than 80 years since the Hawkes Bay event in 1931. It is estimated that the quake may have damaged as many as 100,000 of the 160,000 homes in the city.

AIR Worldwide has released its estimates on the insured losses which can be expected reporting that industry insured losses will be between US$2b and US$4.5bn.

EQECAT stated in its initial statement on the disaster that it expected insured losses of $1b-$4b.

RMS has not yet published estimates but notes that “The EQ commission has a NZ$5.5bn natural disaster fund and an international reinsurance programme designed to protect the fund from full exposure to major catastrophes. Commercial and Industrial losses will likely be less than half the total loss, given the nature of the exposure in the affected region.”