NZ bad weather hits home premiums
The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) is predicting premiums will rise due to the number of costly weather events over the last year.
The council has joined with the ministries for environment and civil defence and emergency management, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences to produce Natural Hazards 2007, a report looking at how to reduce risks and mitigate the effects of natural hazards in NZ.
ICNZ CEO Chris Ryan told insuranceNEWS.com.au today that storms and weather-related events have become increasingly expensive, pushing up personal lines premiums.
Weather events cost $NZ96.25 million ($80.3 million) last year, while the Gisborne earthquake cost an extra $NZ50 million ($41.7 million), and still counting.
“As we consider the losses due to climate change there are a number of considerations for New Zealanders – namely that people need to look at underinsurance and the risks of where they live,” Mr Ryan said.
He says people are becoming more aware of the consequences of big weather events and are ensuring they include insurance payments in their home budgets.
“We are seeing a lot of these losses in very short periods of time – intense droughts then storms, with the land very hard and dry so the water is running off and causing devastating floods,” he said.
The council has joined with the ministries for environment and civil defence and emergency management, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences to produce Natural Hazards 2007, a report looking at how to reduce risks and mitigate the effects of natural hazards in NZ.
ICNZ CEO Chris Ryan told insuranceNEWS.com.au today that storms and weather-related events have become increasingly expensive, pushing up personal lines premiums.
Weather events cost $NZ96.25 million ($80.3 million) last year, while the Gisborne earthquake cost an extra $NZ50 million ($41.7 million), and still counting.
“As we consider the losses due to climate change there are a number of considerations for New Zealanders – namely that people need to look at underinsurance and the risks of where they live,” Mr Ryan said.
He says people are becoming more aware of the consequences of big weather events and are ensuring they include insurance payments in their home budgets.
“We are seeing a lot of these losses in very short periods of time – intense droughts then storms, with the land very hard and dry so the water is running off and causing devastating floods,” he said.