Expo offers latest info on rebuild issues

8:44 am on 28 April 2013

Community groups and residents in Christchurch are getting a chance to raise their concerns about the rebuilding efforts, at an expo in the city.

The primary focus of the event at the CBS Arena over the weekend of 27-28 April is to give the public the latest information on rebuilding Christchurch, and issues surrounding insurance and home repairs.

There are more than 60 stands from local groups, support and government agencies, and building companies.

A co-ordinator for the Canterbury Community Earthquake Recovery Network, Kathryn Wilson, says she has seen many people struggling to cope with insurance and repair issues.

"A lot of these people are mums and dads and grandparents who have lives, who work full-time," she says, "and they now have to devote almost another full-time to these issues at hand. They're getting tired and exhausted."

Public seminars continue on Sunday, on issues such as rebuilding on unstable land, and what homeowners should know about insurance payouts.

One visitor to the expo, Halswell resident Edmund Collier, says the money he was promised to pay for his heating system has already been deferred twice, and he has now been told it's been deferred indefinitely.

"They can't even offer a timeline as to when that payment is going to be made," he says. "So there'll be a lot of people like us who aren't going to be paid out before the winter."

Community-run groups are also making their voices heard, such as an organisation representing people who own the potentially most unstable green-zone land.

The TC3 group says it has 1600 members whose homes were badly affected in the earthquakes, many of whom are still waiting for repairs.

A representative, Maria Thackwell, says it's important to have a presence at the expo because the Government is not listening to them and is not talking to grass-roots people.