Insurers shed $640 mn in Chile quake claims

Santiago, Sep 9 (IANS/EFE) Insurance companies have paid claims totaling $640 million to the owners of about 105,000 dwellings damaged in the Feb 27 earthquake that hit central and southern Chile, authorities said.

Insurers had received 190,199 claims related to dwellings damaged by the 8.8-magnitude quake as of Aug 31, insurance regulator Securities and Insurance Commission, or SVS, said Wednesday.

Some 105,694 claims, or 68 percent, were approved for payment, while 46,336 claims did not generate payouts “mainly because they involved damage of less than the agreed upon deductibles”, the SVS said.

The temblor left about 500 people dead and two million injured and displaced. It caused at least $30 billion in property and infrastructure damage.

–IANS/EFE