Page 12 - Turkinsurance Digital Magazine

12 interview

In addition, we have completed our work on in- earthquake awareness in our country, the number of
creasing the coverage amounts provided to our in- dwellings with Compulsory Earthquake Insurance in
sured, and we expect the amendment to be published Turkey has now reached 11 million, the insurance
in the Official Gazette soon. With this change, the rate across the country is at 54 percent. When we
construction square meter unit cost amount, which compare with sample applications in the world, we
is 1.508 TL for reinforced concrete structures, will see that this rate is relatively high; but our goal as
be updated to 3.016 TL; the maximum collateral an institution is to achieve a 100% insurance rate.
amount, which is 320.000 TL, will be updated to When looking at the insurance rates on a regional
640.000 TL. In addition, to support policy renewals, basis, it is possible to see that the insurance rates are
the 10% discount applied for policy renewals will be high in the provinces experiencing earthquakes. It is
doubled and increased to 20% to secure all residenc- a natural situation for an increase in policy-making
es in Turkey with Compulsory Earthquake Insurance. or renewal rates after earthquakes; every earthquake
reminds us of the obligation to be prepared for earth-
“We have increased our damage quakes along with their devastating effects. Our goal
pay capacity to TL 46 billion for is always to secure all the houses covered by our
scope with Compulsory Earthquake Insurance with-
possible earthquakes” out experiencing any painful experiences. In this
context, we are ready to implement projects that
Besides all these, 2022 was a period in which we will further the success of DASK since its establish-
continued to feel the economic and social effects of ment and the trust of our people in this institution.
the covid-19 pandemic and the increasing natural
disasters with climate change. As an institution, we Instilling earthquake awareness, especially in
have always continued our work to move our system children, is also essential for community aware-
and the processes we carry out further. In this direc- ness. You also have important projects for
tion, we raised the issue of what other types of nat- schools. Please tell us a little about these pro-
ural disasters may be included in the scope of DASK jects.
and the transformation of Compulsory Earthquake
Insurance, which DASK offers as a financial secu- As DASK, since our establishment, we have been tell-
rity against earthquakes, into "Disaster Insurance ing different age groups from 7 to 77 about earth-
."Within the scope of our project related to the in- quakes and the importance of taking precautions
tegration of other types of natural disasters, espe- against earthquakes. Our work continues within the
cially floods, into compulsory earthquake insurance, scope of our “Our Priority is Trust, Our Responsi-
we have formed a very experienced team of valuable bility is Assurance” project, which was implemented
academicians, and we are continuing our work with in cooperation with the Ministry of National Educa-
this team to create a product that will meet the de- tion for primary school 4th Grade students. We have
mands of both insurance companies and citizens. We started the 3rd semester of the project, which we
aim to have Compulsory Disaster Insurance in our have been carrying out since 2018, with educational
lives in 2023. Training given to 250 teachers from 25 provinces in
Istanbul. Our teachers, who received their education
One of the other necessary steps we have taken in the in Istanbul on October 12-21, completed the process
past year is the work on the common and effective assigned to them by the Ministry of National Edu-
use of human resources to carry out damage detec- cation as in-service Training and were assigned to
tion in earthquakes. Work continues on the joint de- transfer the Training to other friends of the group
velopment of the software for the common 'National in their schools. At the end of all these studies, it
Damage Determination Method,' which will meet the is aimed to reach approximately 1,500 teachers and
needs of all parties and prevent different detections 40,000 students.
between Institutions.
In addition, we aim to increase earthquake aware-
Do you observe an increase in earthquake aware- ness and improve earthquake-resistant building
ness in our country? design skills of civil engineering students with the
DASK Earthquake-Resistant Building Design Com-
While there were only about 500 thousand earth- petition launched in 2014. In the competition held
quake-covered houses in Turkey in 1999, when the in 2022, 21 universities reached the final, while the
Marmara earthquake, which is an important date for grand final of the competition was held on May 31,