No flooding disaster yet: Payungsak
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Despite the widespread flooding, Payungsak Chartsutipol, chairman of the state-owned insurance fund for natural-disaster coverage, said on Monday that this is not a disaster yet.
He said that first of all, the Cabinet must declare this as a disaster. However, to be classified as a disaster, the flooding damage must exceed Bt5 billion and the number of the affected must exceed 2 million to make this a disaster, he said.
According to Payungsak, in case of earthquake-related catastrophe, the fund will approve cash transfers when the earthquake is more than 7 on the Richter scale. In case of storms, the wind speed must be more than 120 km per hour.
"The current flooding can't yet be classified as a disaster. As such, the fund's cash transfers cannot be approved," he said.
The National Catastrophe Insurance Fund was set up after the 2011 flood disaster when damage was calculated at over Bt100 billion and millions of households. Foreign insurance companies have raised the insurance premiums thereafter. However, businesses and households can seek coverage from the state-owned fund, which charges 0.5-1.25 percentage point below market premiums.
