Italy Quake: Insured Losses Estimated At $126M
The insured losses from Sunday’s [May 20] 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Italy are expected to be around than $126 million, according to catastrophe modelling firm EQECAT.
The earthquake struck about 22 miles north of the city of Bologna in the northern Italian region of Emilia–Romagna on 20 May 2012 at 4:03am local time.
The death toll has risen to six, ABC reports, and the earthquake has left thousands of people homeless and reduced historic buildings in cities including Bologna and Verona to rubble.
EQECAT said that the “approximate insured losses from this earthquake at around €100 million ($127 million USD). Insured losses are unlikely to exceed the €200 million experienced in the M6.3 L’Aquila earthquake in 2009, owing to a lower magnitude and a smaller affected population.
“However, due to greater commercial activity in the vicinity of Sunday’s event, the magnitude of losses from the L’Aquila event represents a credible upper bound.”
“EQECAT estimates that losses from this event will have mostly affected older, more vulnerable unreinforced brick masonry buildings. Limited classes of more modern structures may also have experienced damage, as seen in the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake,” said a statement from EQECAT.
“The application of earthquake design codes to more modern structures, together with relatively modest earthquake insurance penetration, are expected to mitigate insured losses to around €100 million.”
“EQECAT’s current loss estimate contains a high degree of uncertainty and is subject to revision as more detailed information becomes available.
“Losses are based on a rough comparison to the 2009 M6.3 quake, which resulted in approximately €10 billion economic damage and €200 million insured losses. EQECAT has not currently estimated economic losses.”
