An Earthquake Commission (EQC) paper on scientific advances in the decade since the Canterbury catastrophe says improvements in seismic knowledge and geoscience discoveries will help the country prepare for future events.

“The earthquake response led to internationally significant discoveries about how the earth works, new knowledge on the ‘where, what, and why’ of earthquakes, innovation into new ways of doing things, clever use of technology, extensive collaboration and development of new resources,” the first paper in a two-part series says.

“These advances mean we understand more about earthquake hazards [and] we are better prepared, but we are only starting to lower the risk we face from future events.”

The Canterbury earthquake sequence, the biggest insured event in New Zealand’s history, started with the 7.2 magnitude Darfield earthquake on September 4, 2010.

“Ten years ago, many Cantabrians would already have been awake for a few hours,” state-owned insurer EQC said on social media on Friday morning. “That’s because at 4:35am the most damaging earthquake to hit NZ since the Hawke’s Bay quake in 1931 rocked the region. Today we remember this life-changing event and everyone affected.”

A second more destructive earthquake followed in February 2011, leading to the loss of 185 lives, injuries to several thousand people and widespread damage to land and buildings. Further seismic events struck the region that year adding to the impacts.

EQC said today that it is funding new research, through Resilient Organisations and the University of Canterbury, to reduce injuries in future earthquakes by collating and sharing what companies have done to protect staff and customers.

More than 3500 people were injured in the Canterbury earthquakes by masonry, bricks or other projectiles.

“We know that most businesses are making sure they are in sound premises from a structural engineering point of view, but we don’t know how people are managing non-structural risks like ceiling tiles, light fittings, falling cabinets and heavy items like air conditioning units,” EQC Chief Resilience and Research Officer Jo Horrocks said.

“This research will give us a much better picture of where businesses are successfully reducing these other risks for their staff and customers.”

Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) figures as of June 30 show private insurers have paid $NZ22.14 billion ($20.42 billion) to settle 168,681 claims from the Canterbury sequence, which is in addition to around $NZ10 billion ($9.2 billion) paid by the EQC.

Some claims still remain to be settled.