Why earthquake insurance should be mandatory

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA), the umbrella group of all non-life insurance firms, reiterated the need for a mandatory earthquake insurance following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Bohol that resulted to casualties and damages to infrastructure.

PIRA said only a small number of Filipinos are insured against earthquakes because it is considered an “extra expense.”

Only an estimated 12 percent of the country's buildings have a fire insurance policy. From the figure, only 20 percent have earthquake insurance.

"Earthquake is a standard exclusion in a standard Fire policy. You have to 'buy back' this exclusion so you will be covered…It is sad but many clients consider earthquake cover as extra expense since they have to pay extra for it," PIRA spokesman Michael Rellosa said in a statement.

An extra premium of 0.15 percent of the total sum insured is required to cover earthquakes, typhoons, and floods, on top of the 0.1 percent fire premium.

For instance, a P1 million house requires an additional P1,500 in premiums on top of the P1,000 fire premium.

Rellosa said making earthquake insurance mandatory will also make it affordable.

"The only way for earthquake insurance to be affordable is for it to have a huge base. And for it to have a huge base, it must be mandatory," Rellosa said.

Mandatory earthquake insurance is being proposed by PIRA, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Insurance Commission.

"Earthquake is a risk that we all have to face one way or another. It is a reality in this country, just like typhoons. That is why we are pushing for this mandatory insurance to be able to empower our countrymen to face this risk," said Rellosa.

Tuesday's major earthquake caused several buildings, homes and churches in Bohol to collapse.

A total of 591,577 families or 2,957,885 individuals were affected by the quake in the provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Search for PH quake survivors as death toll hits 144

Rescue workers struggled Wednesday to reach isolated communities on a popular Philippine tourist island that was devastated by a huge earthquake, as aftershocks tormented survivors and the death toll surpassed 140.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake smashed the central island of Bohol on Tuesday morning, ripping apart bridges, tearing down centuries-old churches and triggering landslides that engulfed entire homes.

The number of people confirmed killed on Bohol and neighboring islands climbed from 93 overnight to 144 on Wednesday afternoon, and more bad news was expected as rescue workers reached some of the hardest-hit areas.

Eduardo del Rosario, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director, said another 291 people were injured while 23 more remain missing.

All 23 missing are in Bohol province, he said.

With destroyed bridges, ripped-open roads and power outages fragmenting the island of about one million people, NDRRMC spokesman Reynaldo Balido said it was proving difficult for police and government rescue workers to reach isolated communities.

Officials said 3 bridges in Bohol were damaged, at a cost of P57.8 million, while 7 more bridges were damaged in Cebu. Thirty schools were damaged in the earthquake.

At Loon, a small coastal town of about 40,000 people just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the epicenter of the earthquake, shocked survivors wandered around the rubble of collapsed buildings looking for relatives.

Farmer Serafin Megallen said he dug with his hands, brick-by-brick, to retrieve his mother-in-law and cousin from the rubble of their home on Tuesday.

"They were alive but they died of their injuries three hours later. There was no rescue that came, we had to rely on neighbors for help," he told AFP.

Megallen said a neighbor with a truck tried to drive the bodies to Loon's funeral parlor, only to find out the bridge across a river on the way was destroyed.

The bodies were then taken across the river aboard a boat.

"But no one will give them last rites because the church was also destroyed," he said.

Ten churches, many of them dating back centuries to Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines, were destroyed or badly damaged on Bohol and the neighboring island of Cebu.

Loon's limestone Our Lady of Light church was reduced to mounds of crushed rocks.

'Nothing much we can do'

In front of the rubble an improvised altar had been erected with a lone statue of the Virgin Mary, where teary residents stopped by to make the sign of the cross.

"We're trying our best to keep hopes up, but in this desperate situation there is nothing much we can do beyond giving comforting words," local priest Father Tomas Balakayo told AFP.

"I try to be strong but this is terrible, what have these people done to deserve this?"

The only people involved in the search and rescue efforts on Wednesday morning at Loon were residents and local police, who themselves had lost their homes or relatives.

They struggled as aftershocks continued to rattle the area. More than 800 aftershocks were recorded, including two on Wednesday with magnitudes exceeding 5.1, according to national disaster authorities.

President Benigno Aquino visited Bohol on Wednesday to oversee rescue efforts, and sought to reassure survivors.

"The bottom line is we do not have to fear that something stronger than... (Tuesday's quake) is coming," Aquino said in a nationally televised meeting with cabinet members at Tagbilaran, Bohol's capital.

Most of the deaths were on Bohol, which is one of the most popular tourist islands in the Philippines because of its beautiful beaches, rolling "Chocolate Hills" and tiny "tarsier" primates.

The number of confirmed fatalities on Bohol increased as authorities in isolated towns restored communications and reported dozens more deaths, the head of the province's information office, Augustus Escobia, told AFP.

But he said reports had still not come in from one town close to the epicentre that was believed to be badly damaged.

Nine people died on neighboring Cebu island, home to the Philippines' second-biggest city of the same name, while another person was confirmed killed on nearby Siquijor island.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

85 dead as strong quake rocks Visayas

A powerful earthquake killed at least 85 people in the Philippines Tuesday as it tore down modern buildings, destroyed historic churches and triggered terrified stampedes across popular tourist islands.

Fifteen of the confirmed fatalities were in Cebu, the country's second most important city and a gateway to some of its most beautiful beaches, the national disaster agency reported.

The 7.1-magnitude quake killed another 69 people in the neighboring island of Bohol, famed for its rolling "Chocolate Hills", while one other person died on nearby Siquijor, which attracts tourists with its pristine white sands.

"I was thrown to the ground by the strength of the quake. Broken glass rained on me," Elmo Alinsunorin, who was on duty as a guard for a government tax office in Cebu, told AFP.

"I thought I was going to die."

Authorities said the death toll could still climb, with officials struggling to assess the extent of the damage in the worst-hit areas of Bohol where roads were impassable and power was cut.

Nevertheless, they expressed relief the earthquake occurred on a public holiday, meaning there were fewer people than normal in many of the major buildings that suffered damage.

The quake struck at 08:12 (0012 GMT) near Balilihan, a town of about 18,000 people on Bohol, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles), the USGS reported.

The town lies across a strait about 60 kilometres from Cebu.

Cebu, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the political, economic, educational and cultural centre of the central Philippines.

It hosts the country's busiest port and the largest airport outside of the capital Manila. It also has a major ship building industry.

A university, a school and two shopping malls, public markets and many small buildings sustained damage in the quake.







Mass panic sparks stampede

Three of the people who died in Cebu were crushed to death in a stampede at a sports complex, where poor people had gathered to collect regular government cash handouts, according to the provincial disaster council chief, Neil Sanchez.

"There was panic when the quake happened and there was a rush toward the exit," Sanchez told AFP.

He said two other people were killed when part of a school collapsed on a car they had parked in, while four others died at a fish market that crumbled.

The Philippines' oldest church, Cebu's Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, was badly damaged, with its limsetone belfry in ruins.

It was first built in the 1500s by Spanish colonisers, although its current structure dates back to the 1700s.

A church on Bohol that was first built in the early 1600s also collapsed, according to Robert Michael Poole, a British tourist who was visiting the area.

"It's absolutely devastated... the entire front of the church has collapsed onto the street," Poole told AFP by telephone.

However he said there was nobody in the church at the time of the quake.

Aside from its beaches, Bohol is famous for its more than 1,000 small limestone "Chocolate Hills" that turn brown during the dry season.

One of the main tourist venues there, the Chocolate Hills Complex, was severely damaged and may be beyond repair, according to Delapan Ingleterra, head of a local tourist police unit.

"There are huge cracks in the hotel and there was a collapse of the view deck on the second floor," Ingleterra told AFP, adding that no-one was injured at the complex.

There were no reports of foreign tourists being killed anywhere in the disaster zone.

Tuesday's quake was followed by at least four aftershocks measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude.

The epicenter was 629 kilometers from Manila.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

More than 100 people were left dead or missing in February last year after an earthquake struck on Negros island, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter of Tuesday's quake.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

73 dead as strong quake rocks Visayas

Seventy-three people have been confirmed killed in a powerful earthquake that struck the central Philippines on Tuesday, authorities said.

At least 57 people died on the island of Bohol, where the 7.2-magnitude quake's epicenter struck, according to Bohol police chief Senior Superintendent Dennis Agustin.

The national disaster agency had previously reported 16 deaths on the neighboring islands of Cebu and Siquijor.

The 7.2-magnitude quake caused centuries-old churches and modern buildings to crumble, while major roads were also ripped open and blocked by landslides.

"I was fast sleep when suddenly I woke up because my bed was shaking. I was so shocked, I could do nothing but hide under the bed," Janet Maribao, 33, a receptionist in Cebu, told AFP.

The affected areas are famed for their idyllic white sands and turquoise waters.

Civil defense office spokesman Reynaldo Balido Jr. and others involved in the relief and rescue operations warned the death toll would climb, with the full extent of the damage yet to be assessed.

Nevertheless, they expressed relief the earthquake occurred on a public holiday, meaning there were fewer people than normal in many of the major buildings that suffered damage.

The quake struck at 08:12 (0012 GMT) near Balilihan, a town of about 18,000 people on Bohol, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles), the USGS reported.

The town lies across a strait about 60 kilometers from Cebu.

Cebu, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the political, economic, educational and cultural center of the central Philippines.

It hosts the country's busiest port and largest airport outside of the capital Manila. It also has a major ship building industry.

A university, a school and two shopping malls sustained major damage in the quake.

Three of the people who died in Cebu were crushed to death in a stampede at a sports complex, where poor people had gathered to collect regular government cash handouts, according to the the provincial disaster council chief, Neil Sanchez.

"There was panic when the quake happened and there was a rush toward the exit," Sanchez told AFP.

He said two other people were killed when part of a school collapsed on a car they had parked in, while four others died at a fish market that crumbled.

The Philippines' oldest church, Cebu's Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, was badly damaged, according to Balido.

It was first built in the 1500s by Spanish colonizers, although its current stone structure dates back to the 1700s.

A church in Bohol that was built in the early 1600s also collapsed, according to Robert Michael Poole, a British tourist who was visiting the area.

"It's absolutely devastated... the entire front of the church has collapsed onto the street," Poole told AFP by telephone.

However he said there was nobody in the church at the time of the quake.

Aside from its beaches, Bohol is famous for its more than 1,000 small limestone "Chocolate Hills" that turn brown during the dry season.

One of the main tourist venues there, the Chocolate Hills Complex, was severely damaged and may be beyond repair, according to Delapan Ingleterra, head of a local tourist police unit.

"There are huge cracks in the hotel and there was a collapse of the view deck on the second floor," he told AFP. However he said no-one was injured there.

Tuesday's quake was followed by at least four aftershocks measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude.

The epicenter was 629 kilometers from Manila.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a chain of islands that are prone to quakes and volcanic eruptions.

More than 100 people were left dead or missing in February last year after an earthquake struck on Negros island, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter of Tuesday's quake.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com