New Zealand well-placed to meet multi-billion dollar quake bill

By Charlotte Greenfield WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand faces billions of dollars in damage from the powerful earthquake that hit the country on Monday, but the government's strong balance sheet means it will have little trouble footing the bill, officials and economists said. Central New Zealand was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake just after midnight, killing at least two people, destroying road and rail links and damaging hundreds of buildings. "This hit largely rural areas in small towns so it's not really comparable to Canterbury, which hit the biggest city in the South Island," said Ilan Noy, chair of disaster economics at Victoria University in Wellington.