China is poised to set up a natural catastrophe insurance system to draw lessons from losses suffered in the Tangshan earthquake, said Li Liguo, China's vice minister of civil affairs.

 

"Insurance is a means of sharing risks and strengthening social participation in order to tackle the challenges posed by disasters," Li said here Friday at a seminar on natural catastrophes.

 

The Tangshan earthquake, which occurred in 1976 in northern China's Tangshan city and registered 7.8 on the Richter scale, caused 243,000 casualties, 175,000 serious injuries and 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) of direct economic losses.

 

Computer modeling shows that if an earthquake of similar magnitude were to occur today, the resulting economic losses could be as high as 600 billion yuan.

 

"By sharing the natural catastrophe risk between policy holders, the domestic insurance industry, the global reinsurance industry, capital markets and the State, even very extreme catastrophe losses become insurable," said Edouard Schmid, head of Swiss Re Property & Specialty, one of the leading global reinsurers.

 

The natural catastrophe risk is the risk of huge losses in terms of lives and property in a country or region following a natural disaster.

 

With its monsoon climate and its location close to three major earthquake belts, China is one of the countries most affected by natural disasters. Floods, droughts and earthquakes account for 80 to 90 percent of the country's total losses.

 

China will establish a disaster risk insurance system with state financial support, in a move to encourage domestic insurers to play a bigger role in providing insurance for potential disasters, according to the Ten Suggestions for the Reform and Development of the Insurance Industry issued in June.

 

Guo Zuojian, an official with the CIRC, said social resources should be included in the earthquake insurance system with government responsible for the policy environment and for instituting appropriate regulations.

 

Guo said that China needs to hurry through earthquake insurance legislation since there are currently no such regulations or rules.

 

Official figures show that 550,000 people have died from earthquakes since 1900, no less than 53 percent of the world's earthquake death toll. Over the past 40 years, on average 8 million hectares are flooded each year and economic losses amount to more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion).

 

Guo said natural catastrophe risks can not be borne by commercial insurers alone, so the government must provide financial support.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2006)