The General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) has released new data relating to the Kyushu floods and Typhoon Haishen that impacted Japan earlier this year, showing combined re/insurance industry losses to be around US $1.7 billion.
The southern Japanese island of Kyushu experienced record-breaking heavy rain in the prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima on July 4th in the middle of the East Asian rainy season.
The flooding is thought to have destroyed or damaged approximately 15,335 buildings and killed 77 people, as well as disrupting economic activity in the areas.
In total, GIAJ recorded 33,896 claims stemming from this event, of which 29,540 have now been paid, representing a loss of $855 million to the re/insurance industry.
Almost US $700 million of the total was from fire and allied lines, which is largely property insurance related claims.
Typhoon Haishen, meanwhile, was a powerful tropical cyclone that became the first super typhoon of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season, making landfall in Japan as a strong category 2-equivalent typhoon on September 6th.
Haishen brought strong winds and high waves to parts of the country, damaging properties with flooding and landslides, as well as wind damage in some areas.
GIAJ counts 151,547 claims accepted in connection with Haishen, of which 139,924 have been paid, worth $795 million.
Again, fire insurance made up the vast majority of costs at roughly $784 million.
