The gap between the damage caused by the deadly earthquake in Morocco and the property actually insured is likely to be considerable, with many houses not being covered, reinsurer Scor ruled on Sunday.
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The human toll for the country, which was hit by a violent earthquake during the night from Friday to Saturday, is already at least 2,100 dead.
AFP
This disaster is all the more “dramatic”, according to Thierry Léger, managing director of Scor, whose role consists in insuring the insurers against the events of great magnitude, that in addition to the many lives lost, many houses were not not designed to withstand an earthquake and were therefore difficult to insure against this risk.
According to Jean-Paul Conoscente, general manager of the group’s property and casualty branch, the rate of insured is thus lower than in Turkey, which was hit by an earthquake last February, and “the difference between the damage economic assets and insured property should be more important”.
AFP
According to a preliminary estimate by the World Bank, the economic losses caused by the disaster in Turkey and Syria are valued at 34 billion dollars, but the costs for insurance companies have been estimated at 5.3 billion dollars by the reinsurer Swiss Re.
In Morocco, “losses for insurers will be much lower than in Turkey,” said Mr. Conoscente, without giving a precise figure.