Asian News - Taiwan: Insured loss from 6 Feb quake estimated at over US$7 mln
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Mar 2016
Insured losses from the magnitude-6.4 earthquake which hit southern Taiwan on 6 February have been estimated at over NT$250 million (US$7.6 million).
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), giving an initial assessment of losses, said that there are 148 policyholders who were covered by quake insurance. Their combined quake covers are estimated at over NT$250 million (US$7.6 million). On average, each policyholder was covered for quake losses for NT$1.5 million and would be given a relocation fee of NT$200,000. The actual insurance compensation to each policyholder would depend on damage assessment.
The FSC had tasked the Taiwan Residential Earthquake Insurance Fund (TREIF) to coordinate with emergency response efforts. The commission also advised affected residents to notify their insurers to have their properties assessed for damage to expedite processing of their compensation claims.
Almost all fatalities were from WeiGuan Jinlong building
The quake, centred in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District, killed 116 people and injured more than 400, according to officials who ended their search and rescue efforts on 13 February after the last victim’s remains were discovered.
However, apart from the fatalities, damage from the quake does not appear to be widespread. At least nine buildings collapsed or were left in a semi-collapse stage following the quake. The worst hit was a 17-storey Weiguan Jinlong residential building in Tainan. City government statistics show that a total of 397 people were rescued from the collapsed building.
Among those who died in the quake, 114 were Weiguan Jinlong building residents. Two others died after they were hit by falling objects in another part of the city.
TREIF was created after the 1999 magnitude-7.6 Chi-Chi Earthquake, the largest earthquake to hit Taiwan in over 100 years. Prior to the Chi-Chi Earthquake, fewer than 1% of Taiwan residents had bought quake insurance. As at the end of January 2016, the coverage rate had grown to 32.27% with 2.71 million households covered by quake insurance.