Ahmet Yaşar: The Greatest Disaster Risk in Turkey is Lack of Insurance

Financial Resilience and Economic Continuity Ahmet Yaşar, Vice President of the Insurance Association of Turkey and President of Maher Holding Insurance Group, emphasized that financial resilience is as vital as structural safety following the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes.
Yaşar stated that insurance is not merely a compensation tool after a disaster, but a fundamental element of economic security that must be established beforehand.
Expressing that earthquakes affect not only cities but also production and social trust, Yaşar said that the survival of businesses and the compensation of household losses are decisive factors in returning to normalcy, alongside physical reconstruction.
He pointed out that insurance is the primary mechanism ensuring the uninterrupted continuation of the economic order during this process.
The Risk of Non-Insurance and Economic Losses Recalling that the total economic impact of the February 6 earthquakes reached approximately $103 billion, Ahmet Yaşar noted that total compensation payments made by the insurance sector and DASK (Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool) remained around $5 billion.
Yaşar stated that these figures reveal two important facts: the insurance system plays a critical role in the recovery process by providing the fastest cash flow after a disaster.
However, he noted that the fact that a large portion of the economic loss remained outside of insurance protection poses a serious risk.
"The protection gap shows that the greatest disaster risk in Turkey is not the earthquake itself, but the lack of insurance," Yaşar evaluated.
Insurance as a Strategic Safeguard Stating that insurance is not just a system that pays for damages, but also protects employment by ensuring the continuity of production and lightens the financial burden on the public, Yaşar described the system as a strategic safeguard for the Turkish economy.
Noting that the insurance sector passed a successful test with strong reinsurance protections in the post-earthquake period, Yaşar added that insurance should be viewed as a security mechanism rather than an expense item.