Update: Ping An Confirms Initial $83 Million in Claims for Landslides in China’s Gansu Province

(Clarifies information in the second paragraph.) Ping An Property and Casualty Insurance Co. of China has confirmed the first batch of insurance claims, totaling more than 560 million yuan (US$82.7 million) for fatal landslides in northwest China's Gansu province.

Following preliminary investigations, Ping An P&C reported that the Gansu branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has taken out general insurance, additional machinery damage insurance and public liability insurance in the amount of 443 million yuan, 82.3 million yuan and 35 million yuan, respectively. The ICBC Gansu branch is insured, Ping An said.

The insurer also found that the sub-branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Zhouqu county, in Gansu province, has insurance coverage. The sub-branch, which has insurance coverage related to office facilities and housing refurbishments, was submerged in the landslides, said Ping An P&C.

The insurer also provided comprehensive insurance protection to 55 staff working at the sub-branch of Agricultural Bank of China in Zhouqu county. Their insurance coverage includes group accident injury insurance and group accident medical insurance, with insurance claims per person ranging from 20,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan.

Ping An P&C said that as of Aug. 9, it received one claim for motor insurance, with a predetermined claim amount of 70,000 yuan.

In the early morning of Aug. 8, torrential rain in Zhouqu county in Gansu province triggered landslides and floods that killed at least 127 people and left nearly 1,300 missing, according to the Gansu bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The insurance regulator has requested that insurance companies provide daily catastrophe insurance indemnity reports and weekly catastrophe donation reports, the CIRC said.

(By Rebecca Ng, Hong Kong news editor: [email protected])