New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission (EQC) was complacent and poorly prepared for the Canterbury disasters, according to a report.

The findings come from consulting company MartinJenkins, which the commission called in to investigate lessons that could be learnt from the quakes.

The draft report was presented in March last year but was not taken any further after a Treasury review was announced. It has only now been made public.

Before the Canterbury earthquakes the EQC was a small organisation with a “comfortable family culture” and an attitude of “nothing will happen until I retire”, the report says.

It should have been more focused on disaster recovery, not just funds management and insurance processes.

“While no organisation could have been ‘textbook’ ready for the unprecedented events in Canterbury, the EQC response was not as strong as it might have been had pre-event priorities focused more on the demands of responding to a catastrophic event.”

The quakes exposed leadership gaps, with experienced staff thrown into inappropriate operational roles or, conversely, operational staff taking on leadership roles, the report says.

The business model was heavily outsourced but there was “insufficient weight at its hub to link, balance, co-ordinate and interrogate the spokes”.

The catastrophe response plan should have been based on a more “imaginative” worst-case scenario that was “truly catastrophic, ongoing, with embedded uncertainty”.

The report credits the “sheer energy and drive” of EQC staff and notes achievements such as assessments being completed, contents claims settled, emergency work undertaken and repairs started.

“The EQC in early 2012 is quite a different organisation from that of September 4 2010,” it says.

“There have been significant developments in capability, systems and processes as lessons have been learnt on the journey.”

EQC CEO Ian Simpson says the commission was never intended to play such a hands-on role in the recovery.

“By legislation and design we were effectively a financial services organisation, managing funds and buying reinsurance,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “That role was completely changed – we were physically repairing homes – so of course we weren’t prepared.”

He says the report contains factual errors and he describes some of the criticism as “an insult” to the team at the EQC before the quakes.

The cost of the disasters equates to about 20% of GDP, he says, but “thanks to the good work” of his predecessors, no tax increase was passed on to the public.

“I am not saying everything was perfect,” he said. “There is a huge amount to learn and we need to be better prepared next time.”

He says the Treasury report may find the EQC is not the most appropriate body to handle the hands-on recovery response in future.