Over 100 earthquake insurance claims denied by Swiss insurance companies

February 15, 2012 – SWITZERLAND – Over 100 reports of damage have been filed with insurance companies following the earthquake in the Zurich area that took place on Saturday night. Shortly before midnight on Saturday, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale rocked the greater Zurich area. The epicenter was determined as being close to Zug and about 30 kilometers under the earth’s surface. The earthquake was thought too deep to cause any damage, but Zurich Building Insurance has received over 100 small reports of damage, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reports. The majority of the damage is made up of hairline cracks in building work, according to Heinz Fröhlich from Zurich Building Insurance. Although the cracks are visible, the integrity and safety of the buildings have not been compromised. The insurance company has decided that it will not pay out on these claims because it considers that the earthquake was too weak on the seismic scale. This is the case not only in Zurich, but also in Lucerne, which also saw damage from the quake. Lucerne Building Insurance has also refused to make payouts following the damage, online news website 20 Minutes reported on Sunday. According to seismologist Florian Haslinger from the ETH technical college in Zurich, earthquakes of this magnitude are usually one-off events, Tages Anzeiger reports. Nevertheless, although none have yet been reported, aftershocks from the quake should not be ruled out. Haslinger has also expressed concern for the consequences of any future earthquakes because he believes that few buildings in Switzerland are earthquake-proof, 20 Minutes reports. –The Local

3 Responses to Over 100 earthquake insurance claims denied by Swiss insurance companies

Darlene LaMar says:

February 15, 2012 at 4:00 am

These insurance companies need to at least send someone non-partial out to evaluate this damage and see if any of it is caused by the quake or normal wear and tear and Then if any damage is caused by the quake they need to pay those claims they shouldn’t just outright deny the claims because people pay insurance to be… well insured so that in the event of an incident like this they have the funds for repair if these companies continue to deny rightful claims then the people should at least get the money they’ve payed into the insurance back. If the claims department won’t do their jobs what good is having insurance? These companies should be boycotted and forced into the ground becuase they will always try to find a way out of giving people the money they’re owed.

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June says:

July 7, 2012 at 9:42 am

A lot of people that had their homes destroyed in Queensland, Australia had the same problem.
Some had flood insurance but companies didn’t want to pay them out. Many insurance companies would not even go out to inspect damage which was very bad indeed. Now these same insurance companies advertise on t.v. & phone you up to sell “Funeral Insurance”. I will
not be listening to their speil as I feel when I do pass away they could well deny I even had a
policy, such deception only makes people wary of investing in insurance. Some people are still
waiting for their company to assess the damage which is now over 12 months since the huge
flood.

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Marybell says:

November 2, 2012 at 4:09 am

Property/Casualty insurance was my 50+ year career. I was discussing a renewal of a Homeowners policy with a client. I told him I would quote E/Q coverage since we are in a Zone 2 in our State. He said he had his E/Q coverage in his garage. He said he was covered for Fire. We had a big laugh and I never forgot that remark of at least 40 years ago.

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