Pressure on local government to fix earthquake damage

He says this is because of their ‘thin’ rating base.

Clark says as well as the impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods, there will be significant economic ramifications, both immediate and long-term with the impacts will be felt locally and nationally.

The actual amount of damage and costs involved are still unclear and will take time to emerge. He notes that the scale of the disaster is immense and there has been severe damage to crucial transport and communications infrastructure, not to mention farms, businesses and homes.

Clark says the cost of repair and rebuild alone will likely be in the billions and then there is the cost of the disruption, including lost business.

There will likely be upward pressure on costs and prices and some current and planned projects may have to be reshuffled, Clark says. With transport routes disrupted, potentially for months, transport times and freight costs will rise and this will probably increase prices of goods and services used by businesses and consumers, especially in the South Island.

Clark says longer term, the earthquakes bring into stark relief the vulnerability of our transport and communication links and there will be much thinking over the coming weeks and months about how to make these links more resilient.

He says this could result in some tough decisions, including the potential to change the routes of roads, railways and shipping, which would have long-term impacts on affected communities.