Insurers may have to pay out as much as $1.1 billion in claims following the devastating tsunami which hit the Lampung and Banten provinces of Indonesia last week, according to insurance firms PT Maskapai Reasuransi Indonesia (REI) and PT Asuransi Maipark Indonesia.
Credit: The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan
The two companies have estimated a minimum of 191 insurance risks from the disaster, which killed at least 430 people and caused widespread destruction to homes, buildings and infrastructure.
“The risks are mostly located close to the coastal areas that were hit by the tsunami on Dec. 22,” PT Reasuransi Maipark Indonesia President Director Ahmad Fauzie Darwis said on Wednesday.
The figure has been based on the total insurance exposures located along the two provinces’ coastal areas, which consisted of 17,843 risks.
Darwis said the company had asked general insurance firms to report claims related to the recent tsunami.
PT Adira Insurance President Director Julian Noor said his company had yet to receive claims from its customers but would be expecting them due to the extensive damage to commercial buildings such as hotels and motor vehicles.
“I call on insurance policyholders to check their policies and see if they cover tsunami risks,” said Noor.
