What does an insurance catastrophe mean?
A ‘catastrophe declaration’ from the Insurance Council of Australia escalates and prioritises the insurance industry’s response to support policyholders affected by the natural disaster that triggered the declaration.
A catastrophe declaration means:
- Claims from affected policyholders are given priority by insurers.
- Claims will be triaged to direct urgent assistance to the worst-affected property owners.
- ICA disaster response specialists are mobilised to the affected location to work with government agencies, emergency services, local agencies and affected policyholders.
- Insurers mobilise their disaster response specialists to assist their affected customers with claims and assessments as soon as emergency services say it is safe to do so.
- An insurance industry taskforce is established to identify and address insurance related issues arising from the natural disaster
