Canada: This is how much fire following an earthquake in Montreal could cost
By Jason Contant
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A severe earthquake in the Montreal area could cause between $10 billion and $30 billion in economic losses from fire damage, according to a new study from the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR).
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In a 2017 report, in-house catastrophe modelling from Swiss Re estimated that a magnitude-7.3 quake near Quebec City could result in total losses to residential property alone of $10.6 billion. However, with an only between about 3% and 4% of Quebec homeowners with earthquake insurance, only $0.48 billion would be covered by insurance. A magnitude-7 earthquake in Montreal “is probably going to cause an economic loss anywhere between $50 billion and $100 billion,” Philipp Wassenberg, former president and CEO of Munich Re Canada, said at the CatIQ Connect conference in February of this year.
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According to the report, strong shaking in the Montreal area – home to about 10% of Canada’s population – would lead to hundreds of ignitions; breaks in water supply and damage to fire stations would compromise the capacity of firefighters to suppress the fires. Extensive damage from strong shaking would be accompanied by significant destruction due to fire.
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The expected losses, however, could be reduced significantly by through investments in an auxiliary supply of water for firefighters, seismic retrofits to fire halls and other loss prevention actions. “Many losses are preventable if we invest in resilience,” ICLR said.
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