This Xinhua article comes up with some interesting statistics: in the last 300 years, there were 50 natural disasters that claimed over 100,000 lives, and of those, 26 were in China, with the total number of dead numbering 103 million, 68% of the total amount.
Over 1/10 of the earthquakes happen in China, as well as typhoons, droughts, etc.
So the article then delves into the issue of insurance…specifically natural disaster insurance. The problem, as with anything in China, if is there a legal system that can support it, and then of course come the issues of the particular insurance models that will spring up to compete for the buyer’s money. But this article calls for the government to make haste in setting up the proper legal protocols so that instead of just having the government and the victims “split” the costs of the damages, a third-party–the insurance companies–start playing a part. The article cites 9-11 as an example…
Technorati Tags: earthquake, insurance, wenchuan, sichuan, china, chinese, 9-11, accident, disaster, history
