New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission (EQC) has begun assessing flat land damage claims from the Canterbury earthquakes.

It aims to have all assessments completed by the end of this year but warns it may take longer than anticipated to begin payments, because of the specialist skills required.

In the Port Hills payments are already being made and all claims are expected to be settled by the end of the year.

The EQC estimates it will pay $NZ2 billion ($1.6 billion) for land claims in Canterbury by the end of next year.