Prime minister: New Zealand quake damage to cost billions
The devastating cost of the New Zealand earthquakes that rocked the country could cost “billions”, according to the Prime Minister John Key is quoted by Mirror as saying.
After surveying some of the damage from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tremors that hit, Key told Radio New Zealand that it will cost them “a couple of billion dollars”.
"It's hard to believe that the bill is going to be less than a couple of billion," he said.
New Zealand was also hit by another strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 as well as a hundreds of aftershocks.
Prime Minister John Key said two people were killed in a powerful earthquake that the struck the Pacific nation early on Monday.
"We don't have any indications at the moment to believe it will rise, but we can't rule that out," Key told reporters in Wellington, adding that details of the casualties were still being confirmed. --0---