The Earthquake Commission has received 3483 claims as a result of the earthquake aftershocks on Boxing Day.
Of those, 1931 have been lodged in the week to Thursday.
The Commission's chief executive, Ian Simpson, says many people are returning from holiday and have found new damage, or existing damage that has worsened.
The total number of claims received since the September earthquake now stands at 165,203.
Mr Simpson says people who have already lodged claims for the September quake can add to those.
But those who have not made a claim before, or have already had a claim settled, have three months from 26 December to file one.
Some 53% of the claims received have yet to be processed, although the Commission believes some of those are duplicates.
So far, $591 million has been paid out to residential claimants.
