Examining “evacuation insurance” to boost evacuation in the event of a disaster.
In the event of a disaster, a private insurance company embarked on a response to help the residents quickly evacuate. In the wake of the heavy rains in West Japan last year, delays in evacuation increased the damage, leading Ai Nissei Dowa Insurance, a major property insurance company, evacuated to a safe place by taxi heading to the elderly's home in the event of an emergency. We have begun to consider a new insurance called “evacuation insurance” that assumes payment of expenses to be paid.
In West Japan heavy rain last year when more than 270 people died, local governments issued evacuation advisories, but it was pointed out that many people did not evacuate.
For this reason, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, a major non-life insurance company, has started a full-scale study on whether it can use the “insurance” mechanism to encourage residents to evacuate.
We are considering a new product called “evacuation insurance”. When evacuation information comes out due to heavy rains, etc., a taxi or bus company will pick up the elderly person's home and evacuate to a safe place.
"Evacuation insurance" was originally proposed by a research group specializing in disaster prevention at Hiroshima University, and the company plans to start a detailed survey in collaboration with the university next month.
There are many issues, such as how to make sure that the taxi company can leave the car in the event of a disaster and how to respond when it encounters damage in the middle of a disaster, but `` Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance '' is urgently considered I have decided.
In the event of a disaster, in addition to calling for evacuation by local governments, if a service that encourages evacuation is realized, it will attract attention as a new means of protecting the lives of residents.
The mechanism of “evacuation insurance”
“Evacuation Insurance” was designed to allow residents to escape quickly using insurance services, and was proposed by Professor Katsuei Edo of Hiroshima University.
When information about evacuation preparations is issued by the local government, a taxi system will be picked up at the homes of elderly people who have no means of transportation or people who are hesitant to evacuate, and a system to evacuate to safe places is assumed.
Taxi companies conclude a contract to rush to their home in the event of an emergency for a fee, and pay the insurance company an insurance premium.
A system is being considered in which the cost of actual evacuation is paid as insurance money to taxi companies.
Elderly people are automatically picked up even if they don't call the car, so they will be evacuated.
However, many issues have been pointed out for commercialization, such as whether taxis can reliably drive out cars in the event of a disaster, and what to do when they are involved in a landslide during the evacuation.
“Ongoing efforts by insurance company compensation”
Prof. Katsuei Edo of Hiroshima University, who continued to listen to the victims in Hiroshima Prefecture and advocated the “evacuation insurance” system, said that “In the case of heavy rain in western Japan, the chances of evacuation could not be found, There were many elderly and disaster vulnerable people who couldn't do it even more, if they had a system that encouraged evacuation from outside, such as picking up a taxi or bus, and the burden could be applied to insurance. I thought that the residents would evacuate. "
“In the past, evacuation of residents has been undertaken mainly by local governments, but there are times when it will not work well if it is attempted only by the government. A new point is that private companies are added as businesses. Will be an ongoing effort, ”he said.