Frequent earthquakes prompting people to look for home insurance

Frequent low-intensity earthquakes are prompting people living in the National Capital Region (NCR) to look for home insurance, says a survey conducted by the e-insurance platform Policybazaar.com.

The company said it surveyed more than 11,000 insurance buyers who visited the mobile application of the company between July 17 and 21, 2020. The survey was carried out to apprehend the perception and understanding of people towards home insurance and to gauge their understanding of the benefits home insurance.

According to the online survey, five out of ten respondents in Delhi said that earthquakes have made them anxious to think about buying home insurance.

"In an already uncertain time, the anxiety about earthquakes has triggered nearly 42 per cent of respondents’ pan-India and in Delhi, who don't have a home insurance yet, to consider buying home insurance in the near future," Policybazaar.com said.

Pan-India, nearly every fifth person who took the survey admitted to already having home insurance while in the National Capital Region, 35 per cent of the respondents have home insurance, it said.

It further noted that "unfortunately, home insurance is certainly not the first insurance product" on most people's list as 73 per cent of the respondents across India and 57 per cent in Delhi (NCR) said that they have so far not considered buying home insurance.

"These numbers depict a major concern and this is because, according to a report by the National Disaster Management Authority, 59 per cent of India’s area is vulnerable to moderate-to-major earthquakes," it said.

The country is divided into four seismic zones — II, III, IV and V — that signify an increasing order of intensity and frequency of occurrences of earthquakes, it added.

As per the survey, around 10 per cent of respondents who do not have a home insurance yet said that they were planning to buy home insurance in the near future, while over 30 per cent considered buying home insurance a possibility.

"It may be assumed that considering the given scenario and the frequency of earthquakes, people have slowly and steadily started to realise the importance of home insurance and are giving it a second thought for protecting their home and property," said PolicyBazaar.com.

The survey also revealed reasons why people choose to avert home insurance even after it being as important a product as health and life insurance.

Approximately, 25 per cent of the respondents residing pan-India and 28 per cent of Delhi-NCR residents cited their living in a rented apartment as the reason behind not opting for home insurance.

"The findings reflect that people still have low awareness about home insurance. However, the recent earthquakes have definitely made them think about its importance, with the pandemic situation also playing on their mind," said Sarbvir Singh, CEO, PolicyBazaar.com.

Under a comprehensive home insurance policy, though the insurer will not pay you for the regular wear and tear of your house, it will cover any damage caused by natural calamity including flood, earthquake or cyclone, PolicyBazaar.com said in the release.