Canada’s West Coast will be dropping, covering and holding on for the Great British Columbia ShakeOut, part of a nationwide effort to raise earthquake awareness – and hopefully get more people asking brokers about better coverage.
"Earthquakes can strike anywhere at any time,” says Bill Adams, IBC Vice-President, Western & Pacific. “Although we cannot predict when the next big one will hit, we can prepare.”
According to the co-chair of the Great BC ShakeOut organizing committee Teron Moore, hundreds of thousands of B.C. residents have already registered for the October 17 event.
Quebecers in Charlevoix had the GreatShakeOut in September to raise earthquake awareness – and much like their B.C. cousins, that province is not alone in being not only unprepared, but woefully uninsured.
“We think it's important that the general public knows how to be prepared for such an event,” says Anne Morin, a supervisor of communications and public affairs at the Insurance Bureau of Canada. “Unfortunately, IBC's many interventions during major disasters in Quebec have shown that most people only read their home insurance policy once they've suffered damage, with all the nasty surprises this may create.” (continued.)
#pb#
The IBC has commissioned research on how a major earthquake would affect Canada's western and eastern seismic zones. The study is expected to be released later this fall.
Respected industry veteran Graham Segger has stated that revisions to OSFI’s Guideline B-9 to “emphasize and strengthen the principles-based approach to managing earthquake exposure” earlier this year are necessary, and the insurance industry should welcome, not resist, those changes.
“It is expected that these regulations, coupled with changes in the cat (catastrophe) models and hardening in catastrophe reinsurance will results in product changes, some price hardening and increased pressure on government to beef up building codes and strengthen infrastructure,” states Segger. “And it’s not a moment too soon. Much of Vancouver is a forest of shimmering glass cladded condo towers, many of the utility poles there are still made of wood and, as Alister Campbell, CEO of The Guarantee Company of North America, said at the 2011 NICC that ‘Montreal is crumbling even without a quake!’” (continued.)
#pb#
According to a consultation carried out by IBC of its members, only 3 per cent of Quebec policyholders have earthquake insurance which covers damage resulting from a quake.
“OSFI takes a lot of heat these days from the industry for additional layers of regulation,” states Segger. “Should an earthquake occur, one can almost imagine them being asked why they didn’t do more.”
IBC was the main partner at the Quebec promotion, encouraging everyone to “Drop, Cover and Hold on!” three steps that “can save lives during a major earthquake,” says Morin.
