The Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS) today warned of the need for a protection system for catastrophic risk in Portugal, highlighting that only 19% of homes currently have insurance with seismic risk coverage.
In a statement released following this morning's earthquake, the APS recalls that “over many decades” it has been warning of the need for this protection system in Portugal, emphasizing that it is not “a mere uncertainty, but rather a true risk, of certain occurrence, at an uncertain time.”
According to the association, currently only 19% of homes in the country have insurance with seismic risk coverage, with 47% having no insurance at all and 34% having fire or multi-risk insurance, but no seismic risk coverage.
Therefore, he highlights, there is “a huge way to go so that the safe housing stock has a minimum of protection against this type of event”.
And, if the earthquake felt today seems to have caused no damage, the APS notes that Portugal is in a seismic zone and “has already been seriously affected by one of the largest earthquakes on record, which occurred in 1755 and which then leveled part of the city of Lisbon and other areas of the country”.
“The insurance sector, with its experience in managing this type of event, as a result of its operating model based on the mutualization and sharing of risks and losses at a global level, is available to make its contribution, and has already presented on several occasions to the Government and parliament a possible solution to protect people and homes”, he maintains.
In this context, APS hopes that the earthquake felt today “will be decisive in accelerating the decision to create a mechanism that helps citizens face and mitigate the losses that a high-intensity earthquake can cause” in Portugal.
An earthquake measuring 5,3 on the Richter scale was recorded at 05:11 and had its epicenter 58 kilometers west of Sines, in the district of Setúbal. The shock did not cause personal or material damage, according to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC).
According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), “so far four small-magnitude aftershocks have been recorded, none of which have been felt by the population”.
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