Proposal for a National Earthquake Insurance Programme for Greece

Abstract

It is proposed that Greece undertakes the establishment of a national earthquake insurance programme for homeowners that will replace the ex post disaster relief by the State when an earthquake occurs. Greece is seismically the most active region in the whole Mediterranean. By employing four different catastrophe models, it has been estimated that the economic loss to the residential stock of a 1-in-200 year event is likely to be greater than 22 billion euros; for a 1-in-100 year event is about 14 billion euros; for an 1-in-25 year event is 5 billion euros; and for a 1-in-5 year event is 1.3 billion euros. This potential loss severity exposes the inherent limitations of the ex post funding approach to natural disasters adopted by successive Greek governments and underscores the urgent need for establishing a National Earthquake Insurance Programme. It is proposed that the earthquake coverage should be compulsory and the management of the insurance programme be based on the principle of a public–private partnership. The objective of the programme would be to provide affordable earthquake insurance, up to a maximum amount, to all homeowners, on the basis of risk-based premiums. A comprehensive and unique data bank of the residential stock in the country has been developed, which will be very useful to the local insurance industry as well as to reinsurers.