AIR Estimates Chile Earthquake Insured Losses Not Over $80 Million
AIR Worldwide Corporation announced that it estimates insured losses from a major earthquake that struck the coast of Chile on Wednesday will likely not exceed $80 million. AIR noted that the “USGS has issued a preliminary magnitude estimate of 7.7Mw. Depth is estimated at 60 kilometers.”
“The quake struck a relatively sparsely population region in northern Chile, but was felt as far away as Santiago, 1,245 kms [778 miles] to the south,” explained Guillermo Franco, senior research engineer at AIR Worldwide. “A tsunami warning was issued for Chile and Peru, but was lifted within an hour.”
The town nearest the epicenter, Tocopilla, has a population estimated at about 30,000. The nearest sizeable concentration of property is the northern port city of Antofagasta, about 170 km south of the epicenter. Antofagasta is both the provincial and regional capital, with a population near 300,000.
Franco commented indicated that “in the last century, there have been about 15 earthquakes with magnitude greater than 5.0 in this area of Northern Chile. We are continuing to monitor the situation and currently there are reports of significant aftershocks in the region.”
AIR said its “insured loss estimate is a result of several factors, including the depth at which the rupture occurred, the sparse population in the epicentral region and the low take-up rates for residential properties. Both parameters of the earthquake (magnitude and depth) may change as additional information comes in from networks around the world.”
Source: AIR Worldwide – www.air-worldwide.com