South African has recently experienced unpredictable weather patterns, resulting in inclement weather conditions including draught and extreme heat on the one side, storm and flooding incidents on the other, hail, and even the occasional snow.
Two particular instances have highlighted the important role home insurance can play in the aftermath of a natural disaster. The first was the 5.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Johannesburg in June this year. It left some with shattered windows, cracked walls and others with fallen roofs.
The KZN and Eastern Cape floods are the other major phenomena that damaged many homes, some beyond repair. Not only private homes, public buildings, agricultural land and structures were damaged, but other infrastructure and motor vehicles were not spared. KZN Provincial authorities said 70 houses were destroyed and 110 damaged in eThwekwini Metro, where 552 people were affected, and 151 people were left homeless.
In the month of July alone a Harmony Doornkop Gold Mine, in Gauteng’s West Rand registered an earthquake of a magnitude of approximately 2.98, and a gas explosion occurred on Lillian Ngoyi street in the Johannesburg CBD. Both these events affected local infrastructure and damaged private and public property.
Some of those who were victims of these events found themselves completely exposed as they did not have any insurance cover and did not have the financial reserves to carry the consequent losses. With no one to blame for the natural disasters, there is no recourse against anyone and some had to rely on government intervention and charity.
Most policies tend to provide cover for losses resulting from natural phenomena, or acts of nature, sometimes colloquially called acts of God. These include a flood, a lightning strike, tornado, hail, lightning or an earthquake. But what exactly is an act of God, or act of nature?
- These are events that couldn't have been foreseen or avoided.
- Where no blame can be assigned to a person (hence the attribution to God).
- That couldn't have realistically been prevented.
- Brought about as a direct result of natural phenomena.
Whether the specific loss is covered or not can only be established by considering what the policy documents provide. It is therefore advisable for one to be familiar with what events or perils one’s policy provides cover for.
In fact, it would be even better for consumers to consider some of these phenomena in advance and to consider the likelihood of them occurring where the consumer resides, prior to buying an insurance product, to ensure that the policy that the consumer buys includes such cover.
Should your claim be incorrectly or unfairly declined, you are welcome to approach the Ombudsman for Short-term Insurance (OSTI) for the dispute to be investigated.
For free, efficient and fair dispute resolution of short-term insurance disputes visit www.osti.co.za for further information and go here to lodge a complaint.
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