A state disaster insurance fund has enough assets to cover claims after an earthquake caused major damage in New Zealand's second biggest city.
That is according to the country's Prime Minister John Key. The initial cost estimate is being put at around NZ$2 billion.
A 7.1 magnitude quake struck Christchurch early on Saturday morning, bringing down power lines, ripping up roads, smashing water and sewage pipes, and wrecking building facades.
Miraculously - no one died during the tremors.
Around 500 buildings have been damaged. Although major bridges, the airport, university and a sports stadium which will host games at next year's Rugby World Cup, appeared to have suffered only superficial damage.
Detailed engineering studies are still under way.
A state of emergency remained in force throughout the region but a curfew on the badly damaged central business district had been lifted.
It is likely to be the most damaging quake in New Zealand since the northern city of Napier was devastated in 1931.
Christchurch city and the neighbouring small towns bore the full force of the quake, which did considerable damage to infrastructure.
The quake was among the ten strongest recorded in New Zealand, which sits between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, and records around 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which around 20 top magnitude 5.0.
The last fatal quake was in 1968 when an earthquake measuring 7.1 killed three people on the South Island's West Coast.
