Insurers to pay 10 million Euros in claims for the homes destroyed by floods

The Insurance Surveillance Commission announces that a number of 17 insurance companies specializing in home insurance, had 3,052 approved claims, following the recent floods. The total value of the claims reserves for these files is approximately 10 million Euros, according to the figures compiled by the Insurance Surveillance Commission until July 13th. The representatives of the CSA also say that the claims paid out by insurers for damages caused by the floods so far exceed 330,000 Euros (1.4 million lei).

In the North Eastern region of Romania, which includes the counties of Suceava, Botoşani, Piatra Neamţ, Iaşi, Bacău and Vaslui, 802 claims were approved. In North Western region of Romania, which includes the counties of Bihor, Bistriţa-Năsăud, Cluj, Maramureş, Sălaj and Satu-Mare 499 claims were approved. For the South Eastern area, which includes the counties of Vrancea, Galaţi, Buzău, Brăila, Tulcea and Constanţa 362 damage claims were approved while 277 claims were validated for the South-Western area, which comprises the counties of Gorj, Vâlcea, Mehedinţi, Dolj and Olt. 369 other claims were approved in the Western Region of Romania, which includes the counties of Arad, Timiş, Hunedoara and Caraş-Severin. The remaining claims were opened in the Central Area (Alba, Braşov, Covasna, Harghita, Mureş and Sibiu) - 431 claims, in the Southern Region (Argeş, Călăraşi, Dâmboviţa, Giurgiu, Ialomiţa, Prahova and Teleorman) - 204 claims and in Bucharest and Ilfov - 108 claims.

On the same date, over two million optional home insurance policies were in effect. According to the Insurance Surveillance Commission, the insurance market is ready and has the financial ability to pay the claims undertaken through the obligations undertaken through the optional home insurance policies.

The gross claims paid out by the insurance companies for optional home insurance policies amounted to almost 17 million lei, or 4.6 million Euros, in 2008. Last year, insurers paid out a total of 31.4 million lei in claims (7.5 million Euros).

The homes which have concluded insurance contracts are also covered against disasters, which include floods, earthquakes and landslides. According to official statistics, Romania has 8.3 million personal homes, of which 4.5 million in the urban areas and 3.8 million Euros in rural areas.