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MANILA - The damage caused by Tropical storm “Ondoy” three years ago was worse than that triggered by the recent southwest monsoon that immobilized Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon this week, the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association said.
In a statement, PIRA said the initial assessment of its members showed that flood damage was not as huge as the P11 billion cost of Ondoy, adding that the preliminary results were "encouraging".
PIRA is composed of 83 non-life insurance firms, which include insurers of cars, houses and valuables.
“It may still be too early to say but so far we can say that the damage is a lot less than that from Ondoy,” Pedro P. Benedicto Jr., PIRA chairman, said.
“Majority of the losses that we expect this time around would come from flooded warehouses, factories and malls. It would take at least another 2 weeks for these losses to be completely adjusted,” he said.
Benedicto said many Filipinos have learned from the Ondoy experience so they were more prepared to deal with the flood caused by the monsoon rains.
“Many car owners who live in low-lying areas brought their cars to higher ground. We saw subdivisions where cars were parked in the highest portion of the village to protect them from the flood. We know of some owners who simply availed of overnight parking in shopping malls just to be safe. For them the parking fee is cheaper than the price of repairing a flood-damaged car,” Benedicto said.
It also helped that the floods rose slowly, allowing people living in Marikina and Pasig to save valuables and go to safer areas.
Benedicto also commended the government in making the public aware of what they should do in times of calamities.
Because of Ondoy, Filipinos are now more "insurance conscious," especially since the country is visited by at least 20 typhoons a year, he said, adding that people have turned to “Acts of God” insurance coverage.
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