Insurers strike while iron is hot…
The Portuguese Insurers Association (APS) has warned today of the need for a catastrophic risk protection system in Portugal, pointing out that only 19% of homes are currently insured against seismic risk.
In a statement released in the wake of this morning’s earthquake, APS stresses it has been warning of the need for such a protection system in Portugal “‘for dozens of years”, explaining that what is at stake is “not uncertainty, but a real risk, of a certain occurrence, at an uncertain time”.
According to the association, only 19% of homes in the country are insured against seismic risk, 47% have no insurance at all, and 34% have fire or multi-risk insurance but no seismic risk cover.
Thus, there is “a long way to go to ensure that the insured housing stock has the minimum protection against this type of event”.
And while the earthquake felt today doesn’t seem to have caused any damage, APS notes that Portugal is in a seismic zone and “has already been seriously affected by one of the largest earthquakes on record, which occurred in 1755 and which then devastated part of the city of Lisbon and other areas of the country”.
“The insurance sector, with its experience in managing this type of event, as a result of its operating model based on mutualisation and sharing of risks and losses worldwide, is ready to make its contribution and has already presented the government and parliament on several occasions with a possible solution for protecting people and homes”, it said.
In this context, APS hopes that today’s earthquake “will be decisive in speeding up the decision to create a mechanism to help citizens cope with and mitigate the kind of losses that a major earthquake can cause”.
Today’s quake, measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale, and happening at 5.11am has so far registered four small aftershocks – none of which have been felt by the population.
Source: LUSA
