Abstract:
The natural catastrophes that affected Romania in the last years
generated unprecedented records in what concerns the loss of human lives
and significant damages at an economical level. According to the 2002
census concerning buildings, there are about 8.1 million buildings made up
of 2.8 rooms (in average) in Romania and 48% of these homes are located in
rural areas. In the case of an earthquake, only 12% of these buildings would
not encounter any problems, while 65% may be damaged by the seism and
approximately 25% are sure not to have the necessary anti-seismic
protection, being repeatedly damaged by several strong earthquakes that
took place on Romania’s territory. In the case of an earthquake like that
of 1977, the value of the eventual loss would be around 7.5 up to 17 billion
U.S. dollars, i.e. 8% to 18% of the Gross Domestic Product. Such damages
could not be supported by the national budget. In these circumstances,
building insurance is a more than welcomed and necessary way of reducing
the negative effects of natural catastrophes.
