DASK insures 2.7 mln homes in 8 years
Posted by meb at March 17th, 2008
Interest in earthquake insurance is soaring in Turkey, located along one of the world’s most active seismic belts, even if it the sector is not giving policyholders what they want.
Compulsory Earthquake Insurance (ZDS), a policy implemented by the Natural Disasters Insurance Association (DASK) after the earthquake Aug. 17, 1999 had been provided to 2.7 million policyholders by the end of January 2007. While this figure is an indication of slow but crucial development, DASK aims to provide policies to a total of 5 million homes within the next five years.
DASK Chairman İdris Serdar said the association, which was founded to insure houses at a reasonable cost in the event of earthquakes, has successfully been implementing the Compulsory Earthquake Insurance and damage payments since 2000, thus becoming a model system in risk management on an international level. Okan Utkueri, chief executive officer of Eureko Insurance, said the most important success indicator was DASK’s disbursement thus far of YTL 19 million ($15 million) to some 10,000 houses for damage caused by 195 earthquakes.
According to data from DASK, the Marmara region ranks first on the list of insurance policies with 1.2 million – 44.5 percent of the total amount. It is followed by the Central Anatolia region with 19 percent, Aegean region with 17 percent, Mediterranean region with 8 percent, Black Sea region with 6 percent, Eastern Anatolia region with 3 percent and Southeastern Anatolia region with 2.5 percent.
Source: Turkish Daily News
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