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Strong Emphasis on Protection and Risk Reduction from DASK During Earthquake
Week

At the press conference it held as part of
1–7 March Earthquake Week, the Natu-
ral Catastrophe Insurance Pool (DASK)
shared with the public Türkiye’s finan-
cial preparedness against earthquake
risk and its engineering-based risk reduc-
tion approach.

The meeting, held at the Türk Reasürans
campus, was attended by Mahmut Her-
sanlıoğlu, Deputy Governor of the Gover-
norship of Istanbul (T.R.); Hande Akın,
Chairman of the Board of DASK, and picture clearly demonstrated that our mate change is driving up capacity costs
Board Member Şenol Şentürk; Özgür system functioned smoothly in times of in reinsurance markets. Noting that
Bülent Koç, Acting General Manager of crisis.” high-risk economies become more frag-
Türk Reasürans; Uğur Gülen, President, ile during periods when global capacity
Insurance Association of Türkiye (TSB); Noting that there are approximately 12 tightens, Koç emphasized the strategic
Prof. Dr. Sinan Akkar, Chairman of the million compulsory earthquake insur- importance of domestic reinsurance ca-
Board of the Turkish Earthquake Foun- ance policies across Türkiye, Demirkan pacity.
dation; and Prof. Dr. Mustafa Erdik, emphasized that increasing the insur- Stating that “domestic reinsurance ca-
Head of the DASK Earthquake-Resist- ance penetration rate directly affects pacity is not a choice but a strategic
ant Building Design Competition. the speed of post-disaster recovery and necessity,” Koç emphasized that strong
stated: national capacity plays a critical role in
At the meeting, it was emphasized that economic stability.
earthquake risk is not only a matter of “Our duty is not only to make payments
physical destruction but also a test of the at the time of loss but to be prepared be- DASK Earthquake-Resistant Building
resilience of economic systems. fore the risk materializes. For this rea- Design Competition Is Becoming a
son, the continuity of insurance aware- Regional Platform
DASK Secretary General Balkır Demir- ness and the uninterrupted renewal of
kan stated that they do not view Earth- policies are of great importance.” The meeting also shared the national and
quake Week merely as a calendar international scope of the DASK Earth-
reminder and emphasized that, as a “Domestic reinsurance capacity is quake-Resistant Building Design Compe-
country living with the reality of earth- not a choice but a strategic tition, which is being held for the ninth
quakes, preparedness levels must be con- necessity” time this year.
tinuously reviewed.
Özgür Bülent Koç, Acting General Man- A total of 38 applications were submitted
Emphasizing that, as an institution with ager of Türk Reasürans, stated that the 6 from 30 universities this year. Competi-
more than a quarter century of experi- February earthquakes were a major test tion Chair Prof. Dr. Mustafa Erdik stat-
ence, they continue with determination not only physically but also for the finan- ed that invitations were sent to techni-
to strengthen the financial protection cial system and commented as follows: cal universities across a wide geography
system against earthquake risk, Demir- “We made compensation payments of extending from the Mediterranean to the
kan stated that 25 years of institutional approximately USD 1.6 billion. The total Balkans and from Central Asia to North
memory and field experience form the amount paid in DASK’s 25-year history Africa, adding that a total of 25 universi-
foundation of operational capacity in is around USD 2 billion, of which USD ties qualified for the grand final—4 from
times of crisis. 1.6 billion was paid during a single disas- Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Greece, and Roma-
ter period. This clearly demonstrates the nia, and 21 from Türkiye. The finalist
Demirkan stated that approximately system’s operational capacity, the effec- universities were announced to the pub-
630,000 damage claims were received tiveness of the reinsurance program, and lic via the official website of the DASK
following the 6 February Kahraman- the resilience of our financial structure.” Earthquake-Resistant Building Design
maraş earthquakes, adding that pay- Koç stated that natural disaster costs are Competition (https://binatasarimi.dask.
ments began within the first 24 hours rising rapidly on a global scale and that gov.tr/) and its social media accounts.
after the notifications and saying, “This the increase in risks associated with cli-