Cyclone in India

The fall is storm season in Asia with many different storms hitting the region. Allianz.com spoke to the CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Tapan Singhel, about the recent super storm in India.

 

Mr. Singhel, how would you characterize the recent storm in India?
 

This is the usual cyclone season, but it was an unusually large storm and was called a super storm in India. On the other hand, the coastal areas of the eastern region of India are accustomed to such cyclones. This time, despite the intensity of the super storm, the losses seem to be limited due to the successful evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people across the area spread across Odisha and Andhra Pradesh regions.
 

What did you advise clients to do in advance and afterwards?
 

We had sent an advisory to our clients on protecting their own lives and also to our employees in that region to move into a safer region and wait for the official agencies signal to re-enter the disaster prone area.
 

What is the situation like right now?
 

The cyclone was headed northwest and tapering in strength and has weakened as the wind velocity has come down drastically. The areas that are hit are still largely flooded and damaged, so we do not have a full picture yet as the losses are still to be assessed by loss adjusters. However, it would seem that the measures taken by the state to warn the population and evacuate people have been successful.
 

What will be the next steps?
 

For us as insurers the next steps will be trying to get back into the affected region as soon as possible to assess the real damage done by the storm. A storm of this size is always a unique event, so it will take some time before we know the full impact. We learned some lessons from the devastating 2005 Mumbai floods, where we were able to handle huge volumes of claims and settle them speedily. For us as people, we will start to rebuild. Indians are very resilient with a strong sense of community, all working together to recover from this disaster as so often in the past.

Tapan Singhel, CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance: “Indians are very resilient with a strong sense of community, all working together to recover from this disaster as so often in the past.”
Tapan Singhel, CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance: “Indians are very resilient with a strong sense of community, all working together to recover from this disaster as so often in the past.”

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Claudia Mohr-Calliet
Allianz SE, Singapore Branch
Phone +65.6297-2724
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