National Presentation Republic of Serbia SEMINAR: Insurance as a method for Disaster Risk Reduction in SEE April 2013 Berovo, Macedonia

Introduction DANGER FROM THE DESASTER RISKS Concentration of populations Fast urbanization Complex properties of hazardous areas

Emergency Situations Legislation Disaster - any natural or other hazard and event that causes a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, or event caused by war destruction or act of terrorism Disaster Risks: Disasters caused by natural hazards Disasters caused by human factors - war risks and terrorism

Law on Emergency Situations Adopted in December 2009 by the Serbian National Assembly Establishes the framework for providing protection and rescue in the event of disaster risks Protection and rescue system of persons, material, cultural goods and environment from: Natural disasters, Technical and technological hazards – accidents, Catastrophes, Consequences of terrorism, wars and other large scale disasters Basic principles of protection and rescue

Strategic Framework

Sector for Emergency Management Ministry of Interior Serbian systematic and serious approach to the problems solution and disaster risk reduction Objective: Establish the integrated protection and rescue system in emergency situations Merging of the sectors: Sector for Protection and Rescue of Ministry of Interior; Secretariat for Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Defense; units in charge of chemical accidents from former Ministry of Environment and Spatial planning; and Sector for Anti-Hail Defense of the Republic Hydro-meteorological Service.

The role of insurance in Risk Reduction in Emergency Situations The characteristics of Natural Hazards: they do not occur regularly they are very harmful for the population and their property they impact the large population and damage large material values they could be caused by natural or human factors Insurance: Critical part of a comprehensive disaster risk management strategy Potential to play an important role in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation

Developed Countries Insurance - key role in Disaster Risk Management, by providing the financial compensation The capacity of individual insurance companies/ the total world insurance and reinsurance market is restricted Limitation of the possibility of accepting some disaster risks into insurance or reinsurance

Developing Countries Expectations and requirement for help and support are almost exclusively addressed to the state Natural disasters in Serbia recorded a growing trend in the past hundred years: Period No. of natural disasters persons were killed - Material damage was assessed to ~ 2.1 bill $ FEB, persons were killed - Material damage was assessed to ~ 0.36 bill $ JAN-NOV, fires occurred - Material damage was assessed to ~ 0.04 bill $

Guidelines for further activities in DRR 1.The establishment of a new regulatory framework providing protection of insured and efficient insurance activities (determination of appropriate insurance cost for these risks, and extension of the list of standard risks) Risk assessments should be the base for the future establishment of the tariff system for insurance of disaster risks. Plans of Protection and Rescue in Emergency Situations should be used as guidelines to identify the possibilities and needs to invest the prevention funds, aimed at disaster risk reduction.

Guidelines for further activities in DRR 2.A planned and systematic approach that will be reflected in the establishing of funds for disasters control and mitigation is necessary. This will provide a strategic approach to disaster risk management 3.Public-private cooperation is needed. The state, together with insurance companies should have the prevention role, in terms of disaster risk reduction (environmental protection, development of new risk maps, development of risk statistics etc.)

Guidelines for further activities in DRR 4.Continuous education of the citizens in order to increase their awareness of the importance of insurance as protection from all risks, including the disaster risks 5.Cooperation between institutions at all levels, which could be useful to the overall social community, providing equal conditions for advancement.

Conclusions Existing insurance and reinsurance companies, in cooperation with the state, should be able to gradually, and in an organized and secure manner, address these challenges Insurance and reinsurance companies should work together on setting up a framework for the providing of insurance services and handling of disaster risks

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