What does natural disaster insurance cover on a New Zealand home?

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-07 · Reviewed quarterly, when the underlying data is restated.

General information, not advice on your situation. Buying through Tower's online quote is direct, without advice. QuoteHub is a Tower partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission from Tower.

Natural disaster cover on a New Zealand house comes in two layers, and flood is the gap most people miss. The Natural Hazards Commission (NHC, the new name for EQC) pays the first layer for the house after earthquake, landslide, volcanic activity, hydrothermal activity or tsunami, generally up to $300,000 plus GST per event, and your private insurer pays the rest up to your sum insured. For storm or flood, NHC covers parts of your land only, so flood damage to the house itself depends on your own policy (NHC).

The hazards behind the cover

New Zealand sits on the Ring of Fire subduction zone, where the Pacific and Australian plates meet, which ICNZ says increases earthquake, volcanic and hydrothermal activity. Its long coastline, with no other islands between it and the Pacific, increases tsunami risk, and its position in the "roaring forties" exposes it to frequent extreme weather, including wind, rain and storms (ICNZ). The hazards break down like this.

• Earthquake: GeoNet locates around 20,000 earthquakes in and around New Zealand each year, and around 250 are big enough to be felt (GeoNet). The AF8 science programme says there is a 75% probability of an Alpine Fault earthquake in the next 50 years, and a 4 in 5 chance that it will be magnitude 8 or more (AF8).
• Flood: NIWA describes river floods as one of New Zealand's costliest natural hazards, and notes that many communities sit on active floodplains (NIWA).
• Volcanic and hydrothermal activity: GeoNet monitors active volcanoes on a six-level Volcanic Alert Level system, and its volcano page lists the Auckland Volcanic Field, Taupō and Whakaari/White Island among them (GeoNet).
• Tsunami: NHC's first layer includes tsunami damage to the house, on top of the coastline exposure above (NHC).
• Landslide: ICNZ lists landslips alongside earthquakes and floods as natural hazards (ICNZ), and landslide is the one rain-related hazard where NHC covers the house as well as the land (NHC).

Who pays for what, hazard by hazard

You can't buy NHC cover separately. If your home policy includes fire (most do), the premium includes a Natural Hazards Insurance levy that gives you access to it, and a building with no valid home policy that included fire when the disaster struck is not covered (NHC).

Contents are not part of NHC's home and land cover. NHC also doesn't pay for staying elsewhere while repairs happen, or for consequential losses such as theft or vandalism after the event (NHC). Those depend on your contents and home policies.

Tower's house wording shows the same split in practice. The levy in the premium covers the house up to the limit the Commission sets, Tower pays the cost above that limit, and you must claim under NHCover first (Tower house wording, document code 09-24). Other insurers sell this cover too, and their wordings differ, so read yours.

The cap, the levy and the excess

The cap and levy rose on 1 October 2022, and the excess rules changed when the Natural Hazards Insurance Act 2023 replaced the Earthquake Commission Act 1993 on 1 July 2024. The date the damage first occurred decides which Act and which figures apply.

The higher cap phased in with policy anniversaries, so damage after 1 October 2022 but before your policy's first anniversary date after that day is capped at $150,000 plus GST. Your cap can also be lower than $300,000 plus GST if the replacement sum insured on your policy is lower, because the most you can be paid is always the figure in your private policy (NHC). Your private policy adds its own excess, and Tower's house wording adds a further $5,000 excess when natural hazard damage affects a driveway, path, fence or swimming or spa pool (Tower). For how excess choices affect the price, see what changes a house insurance premium.

Flood: the house, the land and the driveway

Picture a house beside a river that floods. Silt is left under the floor, gravel has washed off the driveway and the carpets are ruined. Three different payers are involved.

• The house and its contents. NHC does not pay. Your home policy decides what is covered, and your contents policy covers the carpets and furniture if they are insured.
• The land. NHC can cover land under and around the house: under the home and insured separate buildings, within 8 metres of them, and under or supporting the main access way up to 60 metres from the home. Land outside those areas is not insured (NHC).
• The clean-up. NHC can contribute to removing silt 15mm or deeper, clearing debris and repairing land scour, but it can't pay you for clean-up work you do yourself (NHC).

NHC usually doesn't cover driveway surfacing, paving, trees, gardens, landscaping, fences or swimming pools, and it caps retaining walls at $50,000 plus GST in total and bridges and culverts at $25,000 plus GST in total for new claims (NHC). Some insurers cover items NHC leaves out, such as driveway surfacing and certain retaining walls, so ask which ones yours does.

Flood wording is where policies differ most. Tower's house wording limits cover from day 91 if the house has been unoccupied for more than 90 consecutive days, to a short list of events that includes natural hazards and storm or flood. It applies a 72-hour stand-down to storm, flood, wildfire, tsunami, volcanic activity or landslide that occurs within 72 hours of the policy start, plus a stand-down for a cyclone named before the start date (the stand-downs don't apply if the policy started straight after another one covering these risks, or when you bought the house), and it excludes soil settling, cracking or movement (Tower house wording). Tower also assesses the risk of earthquake, flood, landslide and sea surge at your address, and that forms part of the premium (Tower). For slow leaks and seepage, see roof leaks and gradual damage.

Why the sum insured matters more than the cap

NHC pays only the first layer, so a sum insured that is too low leaves a gap above the cap. The figures below are what recent events cost the insurance industry, not NHC.

A sum insured is based on rebuild cost, not market value, and how to work out your sum insured shows the method.

What Canterbury and Kaikōura showed

Between September 2010 and the end of 2011, four major earthquakes and more than 11,200 aftershocks hit Canterbury, and more than 650,000 insurance claims followed. The sequence cost private insurers more than $21 billion, with NHC's predecessor paying a further $10 billion, and total economic losses are estimated at more than $40 billion, according to the Insurance Council of NZ (ICNZ). Kaikōura in November 2016 cost insurers $2,270 million across 45,015 claims (ICNZ). ICNZ's account points to five lessons.

• Underinsurance. On cross lease titles, where every owner has to agree before repairs move forward, ICNZ says some owners were underinsured, uninsured or could not be found, and a large number of the outstanding claims are on cross lease titles. It also notes that house policies at the time were for full replacement rather than a sum insured, so where a repair or rebuild couldn't go ahead, insurer and owner had to negotiate the value of the loss (ICNZ).
• Slow claims. Under the old model, EQC paid up to its caps ($100,000 for a house and $20,000 for contents) and transferred larger claims to private insurers. ICNZ calls that transfer process slow: as of mid-2018 insurers were still receiving an average of 2 over-cap claims a day, and some of the most damaged properties weren't transferred until years after the event (ICNZ). After Kaikōura, insurers acted as EQC's agents, and one year on 83% of property claims had been fully settled. From 30 June 2021 anyone with home insurance can claim through their own insurer (ICNZ).
• Settlements and disputes. ICNZ says court cases were needed to settle how policies should be read, including whether an owner who rebuilds on a new site can claim what reinstatement on the original site would have cost, and whether costs not actually incurred can be claimed when the owner buys a new house instead. Owners often commissioned their own reports as well, so several expert reports could sit on one property, and different readings of the loss led to disputes and delays (ICNZ). Cash settlements still carry conditions: NHC can limit or cancel cover after a cash settlement if a badly damaged home isn't repaired within a reasonable time (NHC).
• Land damage. More than 7,000 Christchurch homes were red-zoned, parts of the city sank 50 to 100cm, and 7,000 homes became more vulnerable to further liquefaction and 7,000 others to 1-in-100-year flooding (ICNZ). Cover for land is limited, as the flood section above shows.
• Dearer cover. ICNZ says policies changed after Canterbury so that cover levels and reinsurance could be calculated more accurately, and as a result the cost of cover rose (ICNZ).

Climate change and flood risk

In July 2026 ICNZ welcomed the Climate Change Response Amendment Bill, which it says would require adaptation planning in the highest-risk areas, with councils developing strategies spanning at least 30 years to manage climate-driven natural hazard risks. ICNZ's chief executive said reducing risk in vulnerable communities is critical to protecting people and supporting continued access to insurance (ICNZ, July 2026). ICNZ has recorded more than 150 severe weather events and natural disasters since 1968 (ICNZ), and NIWA notes that many communities sit on active floodplains (NIWA).

For an owner, the practical point is that risk is assessed address by address. Tower, for example, assesses earthquake, flood, landslide and sea surge risk at your address as part of the premium (Tower), so the flood history of a property matters at quote time as well as at claim time.

Buying a house: the LIM and section 72 notices

Check the LIM and the record of title before you settle. A section 72 notice on the title tells buyers, lenders and insurers that the property is known to be affected by or at risk of a named natural hazard. If a claim is for damage caused by that same hazard, NHC can fully or partly decline it (NHC).

Tell your insurer what you find. Tower's wording requires you to tell it immediately if anyone identifies your property as at risk from a natural hazard such as flooding or landslides, or if a LIM or similar document changes its natural hazard information (Tower). If you can't get cover from a private insurer for reasons other than natural hazard risk, NHC offers Direct NHCover, assessed case by case (NHC). See insurance on settlement day and the first home buyer insurance guide.

Making a claim after a natural disaster

1. Contact your insurer. Most insurers assess and manage the claim from start to finish, including NHC's part, and a broker may be able to make the claim for you if you give them permission (NHC).
2. Photograph the damage before you clean up, repair, move or throw anything away (NHC).
3. Talk to your insurer before starting urgent repairs such as boarding up a window or covering a roof hole, and keep quotes, invoices and before-and-after photos (NHC).
4. Claim promptly. NHC encourages a claim within three months, and the maximum is two years, although delay can affect assessment or lead to a decline (NHC).
5. Expect assessors, possibly an engineer, and a scope of works. You are not obliged to use the repair approach proposed for land, and NHC encourages you to seek your own advice (NHC).

Don't start permanent repairs until your likely entitlement is known (NHC). Tower's own process is covered in Tower insurance claims.

Renters, landlords and flats

A renter has no building to insure, so the NHC cap and levy sit with the owner's policy. What a renter needs is contents cover. Tower's renters page says contents damaged in a natural disaster are covered up to the sum insured, less any excess (Tower renters). Because NHC doesn't pay for staying elsewhere, check whether your contents policy includes temporary accommodation. See renters insurance and home and contents cover.

If you own a flat or apartment, NHC cover applies to each home in the building, so tell your insurer how many homes it holds. NHC's building excess is capped at $5,000 for buildings with more than 10 insured homes (NHC). Owners who let a house out should read landlord vs house insurance, because an owner-occupier policy may not suit a rental.

A five-minute check of your own cover

• Confirm your home policy is current and includes fire, because that is what gives you NHC cover.
• Compare the sum insured with today's rebuild cost.
• Read the flood, landslide and stand-down wording, and the extra excesses.
• Ask which land items your insurer covers beyond NHC, such as driveway surfacing and retaining walls.
• Keep contents cover, since NHC's home and land cover doesn't include it. For price drivers, see what house insurance costs.

When a disaster stops you working

Home and contents policies insure property. They don't replace pay if a disaster closes your workplace or leaves you unable to work, and they don't provide for dependants if someone dies, because those risks sit with different products. QuoteHub explains them on its income protection, life insurance and mortgage protection pages. Serious injury is a further, separate risk, explained on the trauma insurance page, and the loss of income insurance guide sets out how income cover works.

Getting a quote from Tower online

For a house quote you will need the address, build year, construction type, floor area and the sum insured you have worked out. QuoteHub's link opens Tower's own online quote: Tower's online quote. Tower publishes its policy wording, so you can read the natural hazard terms alongside it, and other insurers also sell house cover.

Questions people ask

Is EQC the same as the Natural Hazards Commission?

Yes. The Commission changed from EQC to the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC), and its governing law changed on 1 July 2024. Claims for damage that first occurred before that date are still called EQCover claims (NHC). People still search for EQC.

Does EQC cover flood damage to my house?

No. For storm or flood NHC covers certain areas of land only, and the house is covered through your private insurance (NHC). A landslide is different, because NHC covers both the home and land.

What is the NHC cap on a house?

Generally $300,000 plus GST for each natural hazard event, and lower if your policy's replacement sum insured is lower (NHC).

Do I need earthquake insurance as well as house insurance?

Not as a separate product. NHC cover is included with a home policy that has fire cover, and your insurer pays above NHC's cap up to your sum insured (NHC).

Does natural disaster cover include my shed, garage or holiday home?

NHC covers a home or holiday home and related buildings you use day to day, such as sheds, garages or pergolas (NHC). They still need a valid home policy that includes fire.

Do I need natural disaster cover if I rent?

You don't insure the building, but your belongings still need contents cover (Tower). NHC doesn't pay for temporary accommodation (NHC).

Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Natural Disaster Insurance NZ: NHC, Flood and Your Insurer. www.quotehub.co.nz/house-insurance/natural-hazards-and-flood-cover-nz. Updated 2026-10-07.

References

• NHC, About natural hazards cover
• NHC, Cover for storm, flood and landslide damage
• NHC, Claims process
• NHC, Making urgent repairs
• NHC, Natural Hazards Commission home page
• ICNZ, Cost of natural disasters
• ICNZ, Canterbury earthquakes
• ICNZ, About natural disasters
• GeoNet, Earthquake FAQ
• GeoNet, Volcanic Alert Levels and active volcanoes
• AF8, Alpine Fault Magnitude 8
• NIWA, Floods
• ICNZ, Climate adaptation Bill welcomed by insurers, but action and funding must follow (16 July 2026)
• Tower, House insurance policy wording (Standard, 09-24)
• Tower, House insurance
• Tower, Renters contents insurance

Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Compare Insurance NZ.