Building Construction Insurance in Japan
Building Construction Insurance in Japan
Once the horrific events in Japan pass the immediate crisis, thoughts will have to turn to getting the country back on its feet again and all companies, many of whom will be overseas, will have to ensure that they have the correct level of building construction insurance.
And getting the correct level of building construction insurance in a country like Japan, for companies based in the UK, is vital.
Once the immediate crisis is over, the Japanese Government will need to place a great emphasis on completely rebuilding the north of their country. And that will have to involve inviting tenders from other construction companies based outside the country, as Japanese firms alone won’t be able to cope with the magnitude of the task before them.
Firstly, the ground will have to be prepared again for building whole new communities. And that can only happen after the authorities have considered one of the biggest dilemmas: do they build in the same places? With a disaster on such massive proportions, the memory of the loss of life, property and possessions will mean that a whole generation might be very reluctant to build their houses once again in an area which was wiped out by a Tsunami.
They say the last such event (although not on such a scale), happened around 80 years ago, so that is only just over a generation, meaning they must have rebuilt since that disaster. Whether the willingness is there to rebuild once again, remains to be seen.
Secondly, comes the whole question of property rights and insurance claims. Whilst the ground is being levelled and prepared for future construction, just the simple task of mapping out whose house stood where will have to take place. One of the saddest aspects of watching the tragedy unfold, is how people returned to their previous homes and could not even see their property, their street, or even their neighbourhood, such was the level of utter destruction.
People will have to work with insurance agents, the local authorities and planners to try and estimate property boundaries and rights of ownership.
Only once these two steps have taken place, can construction begin and this is where the construction insurance industry will have to play its part in helping keep dividends for those companies that are chosen to help the reconstruction process.
Not least because not only will be there many cultural sensitivities for overseas companies working in Japan, a country so proud of its traditions and heritage, but also because of the potential dangerous nature of the work.
It’s not just the risk of areas having been contaminated with radiation, but most of the land will have had problems with low level waste and pollution. The great wave had no respect for homes, petrol stations, pipelines, waste dumps, or buildings with toxic materials; thus the land will be known as ‘brown land’ (needing special treatment).
So a great construction insurance challenge.
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