Japan Quake Insured Losses May Reach $34.2 Billion, AIR Says

[bemildred]

This might have some downward effect on property values too ...

The insured property losses from the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on March 11 may be as much as 2.8 trillion yen ($34.2 billion), according to a preliminary estimate by disaster modeler AIR Worldwide.

The company used a variety of scenarios including a range from 8.9 to 9.1 in magnitude, a depth of between 15 kilometers (9 miles) and 30 kilometers and a rupture width of 100 kilometers to 150 kilometers, AIR said in an e-mailed statement.

AIR said its preliminary range of 1.2 trillion to 2.8 trillion yen doesn’t include damage caused by tsunami waves of 3 meters (9 feet) or higher that battered the northeastern coast, especially Fukushima, Ibaraki, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. Some tsunami surges reached as far as 10 kilometers inland, AIR said.

The company said 14 percent to 17 percent of structures in Japan have earthquake insurance. About 70 percent of all residential buildings are made of wood and about 25 percent concrete, while commercial construction is about 50 percent concrete, with about one-third light metal or steel and less than 10 percent of wood, the firm said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-13/japan-quake-insured-losses-may-reach-34-2-billion-air-says.html

[xchrom]

1. Think what the uninsured losses will be. Nt

[Art_from_Ark]

2. I would imagine that since this was in an earthquake zone

(Sendai, for example, had experienced a destructive earthquake just a few years before), a fairly large number of buildings in the affected areas would have had earthquake insurance. However, the problem is probably with tsunami insurance, as far fewer people would have been insured and the tsunami caused much more damage.