FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The insurance industry faces damage claims of between $3.5 billion and $8 billion from Tuesday's devastating earthquake around Christchurch, New Zealand, catastrophe modeling firm Air Worldwide said.

Those estimates are preliminary, and the quake could still end up being the costliest disaster for the global insurance industry in nearly three years. It is not expected to be enough, however, to arrest a sharp multiyear decline in insurance and reinsurance pricing.