Indonesia: National disaster insurance scheme needed
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Dec 2016
Indonesia should set up a national disaster insurance scheme because the country is prone to such calamities, according to Mr Kornelius Simanjuntak, an insurance industry veteran.
He said that premiums should vary depending on how prone a region is to disaster, reported The Jakarta Post. People living in more disaster-prone regions should pay a higher premium, he added.
“All insurance companies should jointly work together with the government to handle the premiums,” said Mr Kornelius, who is a CEO at a private insurance company and also a law lecturer.
General Insurance Association of Indonesia (AAUI) Chairman Mr Yasril Y Rasyid agreed. The scheme is quite ideal for disaster-prone areas because funding from the government alone would not be enough to rehabilitate the affected areas, he said.
The Finance Ministry allocated about IDR4 trillion (US$306 million) for disaster management in the revised 2016 state budget. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Indonesia needed about IDR15 trillion a year for disaster management.