Why insuring your home is must?

The recent earthquake and then tsunami in Japan has raised concern to cover our self with adequate life insurance and more particularly home insurance. In India, we only take home insurance when we take home loan. But most of us forgot that most of us are living in earthquake zone (zone III and IV) and risk is far more than we think. Let’s take a look of the past earthquake data in India -


What is an earthquake?
Earthquake is caused by the movement of the earth’s crusts along the plate margins. An Earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the earth caused by the breaking and shifting of rocks beneath the earth surface. Over time, stresses build beneath the Earth’s surface. Occasionally, stress is released resulting in the sudden, and sometime disastrous shaking we call an earthquake. The shaking could last seconds or minutes, and there may be several earthquakes over a period ranging from hours to weeks called foreshocks and aftershocks, the later decreasing in magnitude with time.

Why do earthquakes happen in India?
The Indian subcontinent lies upon the Indian Plate. This plate is moving northward at about 5 centimetres per year and in doing so, collides with the Eurasian Plate. Upon the Eurasian Plate lie the Tibet plateau & central Asia. Due to this mammoth collision, the Himalayas are thrust higher and very many earthquakes are generated in the process. This is the cause of earthquakes from the Himalayas to the Arakan Yoma.

Earthquake Zones in India

Source - IS: 1893:2002 (map)

Is earthquake damage covered under standard home insurance policy?
The damage that is caused to your home by an earthquake is covered under a standard home insurance policy (In Fire and Standard Peril Insurance policy earthquake will be covered on payment of extra premium).

Source - http://asc-india.org/