22 April 2016 Insurance

Insured losses from Ecuador quake could hit $850m: AIR

Insured losses from the M7.8 earthquake that struck Ecuador’s central coast on April 16 could reach $850 million.

This is the finding of catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide which explained that losses would be in the range of between $325 million and $850 million.

More than 4,600 people have been injured and 570 people have been killed, according to Ecuador’s Secretariat for Risk Management, which is concerned with risk reduction and emergency and disaster management.

Additionally, more than 1,100 buildings are reported to have been destroyed and more than 800 damaged.

President Rafael Correa has declared a national  “State of Exception” for Ecuador and states of emergency for six of the country’s worst-hit provinces—Esmeraldas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Santa Elena, Guayas, and Santo Domingo.

Dr Arash Nasseri, senior engineer at AIR Worldwide, said: “According to the USGS, the megathrust earthquake occurred as the result of shallow thrust faulting on or near the plate boundary between the Nazca and Pacific plates.

“Seismic hazard in Ecuador is driven primarily by the Nazca subduction zone, which is located just offshore of western South America. This subduction zone has led to uplift of the Andes mountain range and has produced some of the largest earthquakes in the world, including the largest earthquake on record, the 1960 M9.5 earthquake in southern Chile.”

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