Quake Protection

In the light of the quake in Japan and the damages it brought along into this Asian country, we examined the prominence of this natural disaster in our area and the insurance products able to protect us. The developments in Japan make us feel extremely sorry and compassionate for both victims and survivors.

Major earthquakes are deadly and emotionally upsetting. In Japan, the Sendai quake shook the country as strong as to earn 9.0 points and thus was the 5th strongest earthquake ever recorded in the history of measurement. The power in itself, however, is not really the most telling. Even if there is a minor quake hitting an inhabited area may cause more losses than a pithy one far from the coast. And, if you remember, the last earthquake came to Canada not so long ago, taking place with a magnitude of 5.0 in June 2010 in Ontario. The very last issue you want to think about after living through something like that are the bills for the losses. And this is where life insurance can come in very handy.

All five main Canadian insurers LSM Insurance asked state that they do cover death of the insured in the event of a natural disaster. The problem is that disaster cannot occur while visiting a location that is specifically barred by your insurer, such as a war zone.

The incidence of natural disasters of large importance continually rises. It was hardly a few weeks prior to the Japanese quake that swaths of Australia were flooded.

While no more than 75 thousand lives were lost each year in the 1990s, in contrast with 86,000 a year in the eighties, an average of 211 million people were actually moved by natural disaster in the 1990s – up from 147 million in the eighties.

The number of natural disasters 300% compared to the 60s and the monetary effect has magnified nine-fold in the same interval.

Passing away due to an earthquake is increasingly possible all the time, so life insurance protecting you and your loved ones in the event of an earthquake is only a natural decision.


Written by Lorne S. Marr, a renowned affordable life insurance specialist