Saudi flood victims to get damage compensation

(MENAFN - Arab News) Local insurance companies vying to duck out from paying compensation to thousands of victims of the Jeddah flood for damages to property under natural disaster clauses better think again.

According to recent reports, Deputy Finance Minister for Central Services Mohammad Al-Muqaiteeb has along with 10 committees from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Interior began work on Saturday to estimate the amount of financial compensation to be paid out to victims of the Jeddah flood for damages to homes, automobiles, and shops.

Al-Muqaiteeb reportedly said the investigation would be complete in 10 days and would be then reported directly to the Ministry of Finance so the exact sums of money can be paid out to the victims.

The deputy minister also promised that once the sums have been determined they would be promptly paid within no more than two weeks. He also stated that the corresponding insurance companies would pay victims who held insurance policies protecting their homes or cars.

However, damages, which occurred to uninsured victims would have the damages to their property assessed by the Ministry of Finance and receive compensation as per the amount of damage directly from the Finance Ministry.

Arab News contacted local insurance companies to find out what they are doing for their policyholders.

At least three major insurance companies operating in Jeddah and the Kingdom offered no comment saying that they were still gathering statistics on the amount of claims to be paid. "We are still getting directives from the ministries on how the situation should be handled and are looking at policies to determine a plan of action for compensation payments," said a property and liability claim officer in Jeddah, who did not want his name or company name mentioned.

Arab News also asked if in his opinion insurance premiums would go up, to which he replied: "In our past experience with catastrophes such as the recent flood there has been an increase in premiums not only for those suffering damages but unfortunately across the board."

Sarah Abdullah

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial News (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093286555&src=NLEN.