Asia: Closing the protection gap
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Aug 2016
In 2013, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had warned that direct economic losses from disasters “are out of control”. The trend has only proceeded to escalate in the last three years. This has significant impact on Asia, where disaster losses are becoming increasingly dire in proportion to more frequent natural catastrophes from the extremely destructive 2011 Japanese earthquake that struck the Tokyo region to the very recent Java floods in June.
To put things in perspective, the Asia-Pacific region in 2015 suffered almost half the world’s 344 disasters causing some 16,000 fatalities and adversely affecting the lives of 59 million. Economic losses totalled to more than US$45 billion but insured losses were much smaller. The protection gap is set to get worse with rapid urbanisation, rampant global warming and erratic climate changes.
There is, thus, an urgent and dire need for regulators and insurers to work ever closer together to help close the protection gap.
Making the unpredictable predictable
The 14th Nat CAT Conference organised by the Asia Insurance Review, with the theme “Making Nat CAT Insurance Available to the Masses: Closing the Protection Gap - A Pipe Dream or Real Possibility?” will look to make the unpredictable predictable and get the insurance industry ready to respond to the challenge to offer disaster relief protection for the masses. The two-day conference will be held on 22-23 September 2016 in Singapore.