The Earthquake Commission is considering hiring experts from the United States to help assess the damage to thousands of Canterbury homes.
There are at least 22,000 properties affected by September's 7.1 magnitude quake.
The commission says it and the insurance industry have every available loss adjustor in New Zealand and Australia working on assessments.
EQC chief executive Ian Simpson says he is now thinking of going to America for more people to help do the work.
The current team is assessing more than 1000 houses a day.
