Page 15 - Turkinsurance Digital Magazine

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It is a well-known fact that insurance awareness needs to be houses in Adıyaman, 33 percent of the 231 thousand houses in
higher, and the need for assurance is behind the needs of many Diyarbakır, have a Compulsory Earthquake Insurance policy.
people or does not exist at all. Unfortunately, we saw to what
extent this situation could create devastating consequences after The Presidency also announced that the total burden of the
the large earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, affecting ten provinc- two earthquakes that occurred on February 6 and killed about
es in different dimensions. On February 6, 2023, our country ex- 48,000 people on the Turkish economy was 2 trillion liras, that
perienced two earthquakes covering ten provinces with an inter- is, about $ 104 billion. In the report published today by the Pres-
val of 8 hours. During earthquakes covering such a vast region, idential Strategy and Budget Directorate, it was stated that the
59% of individuals living in other areas have either a relative damage caused by the earthquake, which caused widespread de-
or a friend living in these regions. 28% of these people lost a struction in 11 provinces, corresponds to 9% of the estimated
relative in these earthquakes. 31% also have a friend or rela- 2023 national income.
tive who has been injured. According to research published by
IPSOS, although DASK is a mandatory insurance that everyone In the report, it was pointed out that the earthquake damage
should have, 55% of individuals state that their homes do not assessment is continuing, and the amount of damage calculated
have DASK. Only half of these people say that they are consider- may increase as the damage and loss data come in.
ing having it done. Home insurance ownership is also quite low. 4
out of every ten houses have home insurance. 40% of individuals According to the report, housing damage accounted for about
who do not have home insurance are also considering having it 55% of the damage caused, that is, 1.1 trillion liras.
done.
Other highlights from the research are as follows: The second biggest damage cost was created by public infra-
structure with 242.5 billion liras, that is, 12.9 billion dollars. It
• After the earthquake on February 6, society is even more tired, was calculated that the damage to private sectors such as indus-
worried, sad, and angry. try, communication, health, excluding housing, was 222.4 billion
liras, that is, 11.8 billion dollars.
• Although most individuals living in Turkey think that such a
disaster will happen in their province, only 24% of individuals When the losses of the insurance sector are taken into account, it
living outside the ten provinces hit by the earthquake today have is stated that the loss is about 2 trillion liras.
conducted a study on whether their housing is earthquake resist-
ant. Another noteworthy aspect is that 27% of individuals say We could not share the burden because the in-
that the housing they live in is not earthquake resistant, and 36% surance rate was low
are unsure whether it is durable.
The World Bank calculated the physical damage of the earth-
• Only about 40% of the society says that they are very or fairly
knowledgeable about how to behave during an earthquake. And quake as $ 34.2 billion. The more pessimistic ones say that the
15% of them don’t know about it. damage will increase to $ 100 billion. According to the calcu-
lations, the DASK will pay 25 billion liras for damaged houses,
damaged vehicles, housing, workplace, those who lost their lives
• After the earthquake, 43% of individuals living outside the ten
provinces hit by the earthquake think that it is very likely that and insurance companies will pay about 76 billion liras to those
such a disaster will occur in their province, and 42% think that who suffered various losses. Insurance companies will be able
there is such a possibility. In total, 85% of individuals are con- to collect 90 percent of this figure, that is, 90 billion liras from
cerned that such a disaster may occur in their province. the international insurance system. If the insurance rate were
at world standards, 333 billion liras of the loss, which is 665
billion liras with an optimistic estimate, would be shared with
The rate of Compulsory Earthquake Insurance the international insurance system. In other words, the burden of
in the 10 provinces hit by the earthquake is 49 250 billion liras would be lifted from us.
percent
Earthquake-resistant building cost $ 465 billion

Out of a total of 20 million houses in Turkey, 54.7 percent have
a Compulsory Earthquake Insurance policy. In the 10 provinces According to the World Bank’s report published in December
at the center of the earthquake, this rate is at an average of 49 2021, while it was stated that most of the building stock in Tur-
percent. key was built before 2000, attention was drawn to the urgent
need to strengthen millions of private properties. According to
113 thousand units of 210 thousand houses in Kahramanmaraş the World Bank, the cost of making homes safe is $ 465 billion.
have a Compulsory Earthquake Insurance policy. In other prov- So far, only 4% of the 6.7 million houses have been renovated.
inces, the figures are as follows; 40.1 Percent of the 315 thou- According to the World Bank’s Global Post-Disaster Damage
sand houses in Hatay, 42.4 percent of the 101 thousand houses Assessment report (GRADE), the two major earthquakes that hit
in Osmaniye, 64.5 percent of the 339 thousand houses in Ga- Turkey on February 6 caused about $34.2 billion in direct phys-
ziantep, 59.7 percent of the 25 thousand houses in Kilis, 52.9 ical damage, and the reconstruction and remediation costs may
percent of the 198 thousand houses in Sanliurfa, 45.9 Percent be two or three times this amount. In addition, the World Bank
of the 479 thousand houses in Adana, 52.1 percent of the 188 announced that it will donate $ 1.78 billion after the earthquake
thousand houses in Malatya, 44.9 percent of the 89 thousand disasters in Kahramanmaraş.