He described his visit to North Canterbury as “just devastating”.
But it was most encouraging to see so much genuine farmer stoicism.
It was too early to even estimate the likely scale of claims.
“We don’t have a true picture yet but what we do know is the impact is massive for the farmers that we have seen,” Wilkshire said.
“And we haven’t by any means got to all our clients yet.”
Claims payouts for the Darfield 2010 quake totalled $45 million but Wilkshire expected the North Canterbury quake would well surpass that.
Many of the worst hit North Canterbury farms had big infrastructure that had been compromised, he said.
“It’s early days and certainly too early to put any figures on claims and dollars but we know we will be looking at significantly more than Darfield.
“And that comes from the fact we are looking at a much bigger environment and also six years on a lot has changed and a lot has got much more expensive,” he said.
The good news was the industry as a whole was much more experienced and much better equipped to manage and support farmers this time.
“We have established reliable networks and frameworks which are up and running already.”
Assessors had already been deployed but the biggest hurdle was access.
“The moment we get access via the inland road we can immediately get assessors in, especially to homes to ensure they are safe to occupy.
“In all, the situation is very real – dire,” Wilkshire said.
