"Sign Up for Flood and Windstorm Insurance Before Summer Typhoon and Heavy Rain Damage"

Ministry of the Interior and Safety Enhances Product Features Including Lower Insurance Premiums for Small Business Owners and Doubling Flood Damage Compensation for Homes

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety urged on the 19th to subscribe to flood and windstorm insurance in advance to prepare for natural disasters such as typhoons and heavy rains during the summer season.

Flood and windstorm insurance is a policy insurance managed by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and operated by five private insurance companies. More than half of the insurance premium (up to 92%) is supported by the government and local governments, allowing subscription at an affordable cost, and actual compensation is provided according to the scale of flood, windstorm, and earthquake damage.

According to the Disaster Yearbook, damage to facilities caused by natural disasters such as typhoons, heavy rains, heavy snow, earthquakes, storms, and strong winds averaged 362.8 billion KRW annually over the past 10 years (2009?2018), highlighting the need for active preparation.

In particular, from this year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained that the product quality of flood and windstorm insurance has been improved. First, the insured burden for small business owners’ stores and factories was reduced by 25 percentage points from the previous 66% of the total insurance premium to the current 41%, enabling coverage benefits at an affordable annual premium of about 26,000 KRW.

Additionally, to provide practical protection for tenants of stores and factories, the compensation limit for inventory assets (raw materials, products, merchandise, stored goods, etc.) was raised from 30 million KRW to 50 million KRW, and the inclusion of fixtures and equipment in the insured objects was specified.

For houses, the minimum compensation amount for flood damage was raised from 2 million KRW to 4 million KRW, providing coverage more than four times larger than the disaster relief fund of 1 million KRW. When tenants suffer flood damage, unlike the previous method of differential compensation (1.5 million to 4.5 million KRW) depending on the flood height, compensation was improved to provide at least 4 million KRW, the same as owners.

Inquiries about subscribing to flood and windstorm insurance can be made through the representative phone numbers of each insurance company (02-2100-5103~7), or by contacting the disaster management department of local governments or community centers. Related information is also available on the National Disaster Safety Portal (safekorea.go.kr). Some products can be subscribed to via insurance companies’ websites and smartphones.

Ahn Young-gyu, Director of the Disaster Management Office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "We will continue to strive to develop flood and windstorm insurance into a good policy that provides practical help in recovering from and repairing damage caused by natural disasters every year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.