Several global reinsurers have reported estimated losses arising from the devastating earthquakes in Turkiye on 6 February, as they released their 1Q2023 financial statements.
Mr Christoph Jurecka, CFO of reinsurance giant Munich Re, said, “The earthquake that hit Turkey on the border with Syria in February 2023 was one of the most catastrophic we have seen in recent history. Around 60,000 people lost their lives. The insured losses amount to some EUR4–5bn ($4.3-5.4bn), of which Munich Re is shouldering EUR0.6bn.”
In 1Q2023, Munich Re generated a net result of EUR1,271m overall.
German reinsurer Hannover Re says that its P&C Re unit reported large natural catastrophe claims in 1Q2023. "The largest individual losses were the earthquake in Turkey with net expenditure of EUR 201m as well as an intense cyclone and major flooding that impacted New Zealand at a cost of EUR 52m and EUR 47m respectively."
Nevertheless, Hannover Re’s overall net income rose by 13% to EUR484m for 1Q2023.
Mapfre expects the 6 February quake to cost it EUR77m, one factor for the 17% fall in the 1Q2023 net result that amounted to EUR128m.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) announced that as of 22 May 2023, it had paid claims totalling close to TRY24.64bn ($1.24bn) for insured residential property destroyed or damaged in the disaster.
Gallagher Re in its “Q1 2023 Natural Catastrophe Report” says that the above-average natural catastrophe losses around the world at the beginning of this year were driven mainly by the earthquake in Turkiye.
The report reads, “The main magnitude-7.8 tremor that struck on 6 February, and subsequent powerful aftershocks, resulted in direct physical damage costs likely to approach $45bn according to an initial high-end financial assessment from the World Bank.
“Despite a requirement to purchase residential earthquake insurance, just 49% of homeowners in the 11 hardest-hit Turkish provinces had active policies from the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP). Total insured losses were estimated to approach $5bn.”