.jpg)
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance said that it will use satellite images for its assessments of flood damages, following an increasing number of typhoons and floods causing damage in the country.
The move, which the insurer claims is an industry-first in Japan, aims to speed up compensation for owners of damaged properties, NHK World reported. This replaces time-consumer on-site assessments, where property owners typically wait for over a month for payouts, causing delays in recovery and rebuilding.
The satellite operation is set to launch within this month, the report said. According to the insurer’s officials, the images will be analysed using artificial intelligence to automatically calculate flood depths. Other data, such as ground elevation and water flows, can also be gathered from the satellite images.
“We want to tap advanced technology and automate as many operations as possible,” said Hidenori Kobayashi, a manager at Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance. “This will let us focus on tasks that can only be done by humans.”
The insurer is implementing a parametric flood insurance system, where if a flood exceeds 45 centimetres in depth, there will be no need to dispatch assessors to inspect the property. This simplified process greatly reduces waiting time for payouts – from over a month to a few days.
