Although western insurers remain relatively unaffected by the devastation left behind by December's tsunami in the Indian Ocean, local companies are calculating large payouts.
In addition to the undeveloped nature of many of the stricken areas, in the majority of these countries, earthquake risk, including tsunamis, is excluded in property insurance policies, and additional coverages, as well as life and health insurance, are quite unusual, Munich Re pointed out in its recent analysis of the tsunami's economic effects.
The toll on humanity, however, is incalculable. The waves, which reached more than 32 feet in some areas, scoured many villages off the landscape and, by mid-January, more than 162,000 were confirmed dead, although officials of the United Nations warned that figure could rise exponentially as relief workers reached remote villages and survivors succumbed to disease. Nearly a third of the confirmed fatalities were children, and the U.N. estimated that as many as 1.5 million children were affected by the Dec. 26 disaster.
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