What we do when catastrophe strikes
Date Published: 17 May 2021, updated 11 October 2024
The Importance of Preparedness
The floods in Northern New South Wales in 2022 that made headlines around the world are a stark reminder of the devastating impacts that natural disasters can cause. The NSW government has predicted that the cost of building and infrastructure damage from natural disasters like this could reach $9.1 billion per year by 2060, as more frequent and severe events increasingly impact homes, businesses, and government infrastructure.
Strata Insurance plays an important role in disaster recovery. In the event of a flood or similar event, having the right insurance can help reduce financial loss and speed up recovery. With flood insurance, insurers like CHU can respond quickly and efficiently when a disaster like this happens.
Understanding Catastrophe Insurance Cover and how CHU can help
What is catastrophe insurance?
Catastrophe insurance is a type of insurance designed to protect against high-cost events such as floods, earthquakes, hail, and fires. Catastrophe insurance applies or an event that the Insurance Council of Australia declares a catastrophe and issues a catastrophe code
This coverage is essential because it provides additional financial protection for events that lead to an escalation in costs associated with rebuilding, over and above that covered in the standard property section of the policy.. Catastrophe insurance is crucial for helping individuals, businesses, and communities recover and rebuild after severe damage, many of which carry both financial and emotional burdens.
Types of disasters covered by CHU Insurance
CHU’s strata insurance provides coverage for a variety of natural disasters, including:
- Floods
- Storms
- Bushfires
- Lightning
- Cyclones
- Earthquakes
- Tsunamis
CHU's proactive approach to disaster management
As one of Australia's largest and most awarded insurance underwriting agencies, CHU makes sure it’s well-prepared for such events. CHU’s nation-wide claims and assessing teams regularly practice and work through simulated scenarios under pressure to ensure they are well-prepared to help customers as soon as possible.
Geo mapping technology used by CHU Insurance
One valuable aid that CHU has established is Geo mapping. It allows you take raw data and turn it into a Geo map. By visualising location data in this way, you can immediately understand information that could otherwise take hours to comb through and interpret.
CHU’s Geo mapping shows all of CHU risks within a certain postcode or location on a single map. CHU can use this data to be proactive in the event of a catastrophe. We can contact customers directly or their brokers and authorised representative in the area to check if the insured needs our help with make safe, repairing damage, emergency accommodation, etc.
This also enables CHU to draw together a net of potentially affected risks which we can then base our resource plan on.
CHUAssess: Streamlining the Claims Process
Speed in assessing what actions and repairs are required is crucial and CHU has established CHUAssess, a unique, agile, internal loss assessment team. Decisions are made on the spot by CHUAssess. It has complete control of on-site assessment and settlement and provides on-site approval of works, speeding up repairs and settlement. The claim is handled by the assessor, not claims consultant - removing a layer in the process.
The assessor will decide what needs to be done with builders and restorers quickly appointed.
CHU has an experienced panel of builders and restorers to ensure quality repairs are efficiently carried out. The panel of restorers was established to ensure there is no long-term impact from the original disaster, such as mould from the water damage. The restorers will ensure the appropriate work is carried out and help reduce claims costs. Plus, the quality of the work is guaranteed by CHU.
Technology is one way of helping our customers. During a surge environment such as a CAT, CHUs broker partners can log into the claim file in Strata tech (CHUs claim operations system) and receive a real time update. Including all the automated updates on the repair process from our Builder platform Endata. Of course the most valuable tool when such disasters as the March flooding strikes is simply – talking to the customer.
We work closely with brokers and strata managers to contact customers to explain what is happening and what we are doing to help.
Talking to a real person in the very stressful time after disaster strikes is an advantage.
Case study: CHU Insurance’s immediate response to the March 2021 floods
In most cases, a catastrophe hits a single area. Not with the March 2022 flooding. This time there were eight areas, spanning 400kms of coastal areas affected by flooding, not including the areas hit by general storm damage (which went into Queensland). So, we plotted all our risks, colour-coded each to show which had flood cover and which had not put together a detailed plan.
As soon as the claims team is contacted they immediately swing into action, triaging the claim and deciding how best to quickly help customers get back onto their feet. For example, to ensure the customers’ property is safe and secure the claims team may organise for temporary emergency make-safe repairs to be carried out before full repairs are started.
Conclusion: Commitment to Customer Support
CHU is deeply committed to supporting its customers through challenging times. By providing adequate strata insurance, we take a proactive approach to catastrophe management, ensuring we are well-prepared to respond quickly and effectively when disasters strike. With advanced tools like Geo mapping and having a dedicated internal team ready to handle your claims, we can make on-the-spot decisions to ensure repairs are completed efficiently. This allows you to focus on rebuilding and recovering without facing any additional financial or emotional stress. Contact us to learn more about our comprehensive strata insurance solutions and how we can help protect your strata building.
