New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission (EQC) will miss its target for repairing homes with major damage this year.

It aimed to complete work on homes with damage of more than $NZ50,000 ($45,060) but claims have proved more complex than expected due to apportionment between the EQC and private insurers, plus issues that changed damage classification.

The program was launched in December 2011 with an estimate of 4500 houses, but the commission has already completed nearly 9000 claims. It says it has 5749 under way and another 2654 homes waiting for work to begin. It has not set a new target date.

However, the EQC has secured a legal victory, with the High Court issuing permanent orders restraining former employee Marc Krieger from disclosing claims information.

Mr Krieger published information on a website called EQC Truths. He had obtained a spreadsheet of about 83,000 claims, with data that could reveal people’s identities, commercial information on repair costs and EQC administrative processes.

Mr Krieger emailed the court to say he now lives in Switzerland and was boycotting the proceedings because they did not have jurisdiction over him.

Meanwhile, government-owned insurer Southern Response, which holds the earthquake claims of the former AMI Insurance, says it will respond to all policyholder concerns within two weeks after a protest outside its Christchurch office last Tuesday.

About 60 people protested about delays in settlements and the value of payments.