A recent Business Insurance article reported that Japanese insurers have paid almost $2.27 billion to cover approximately 125,000 claims associated with earthquake damage to personal dwellings stemming from the March 11 tsunami and earthquake that devastated Japan.  According to the General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ), the number of claims is expected to increase as efforts continue to restore heavily damaged areas of the country.

Coverage for dwelling claims, which have accounted for a large portion of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami-related claims thus far, are reinsured exclusively by the Japanese government.  For this reason, foreign reinsurers will experience little if any exposure to these particular claims.  The total insured property losses from the Japan earthquake and tsunami have so far been estimated at between $18 billion and $26 billion.

The GIAJ further noted that loss adjusting has been significantly aided and simplified by aerial and satellite photography.  Those areas that are determined by photographs to be “total loss areas” will not require the presence of actual loss adjusters to assess damage to dwellings, the GIAJ said in a statement.