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Is the world becoming uninsurable?

(charleshughsmith.substack.com)
478 points spking | 1 comments | 17 Jan 25 00:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.25s | source
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tobyhinloopen ◴[17 Jan 25 07:13 UTC] No.42734903[source]▶
American, living in area prone to natural disasters: "Is the WHOLE WORLD becoming uninsurable?"

The answer is obviously "no" since there are other parts of the world that don't live on a hurricane highway nor build houses made from firewood in an area prone to wildfires.

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Over2Chars ◴[17 Jan 25 11:53 UTC] No.42736604[source]▶
I would assume that earthquake insurance in japan is a reasonable model for "world insurance".

It looks like it's a reinsurance program:

https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/financial_system/earthq...

So, I think the answer is "no".

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tzs ◴[17 Jan 25 13:17 UTC] No.42737204[source]▶
Japan is probably not a good comparison for home insurance because houses in Japan typically only have a 20 to 30 year lifespan. After that they are usually torn down and a new house is built.
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UniverseHacker ◴[17 Jan 25 14:16 UTC] No.42737705[source]▶
Why would anyone tear down a 20 year old house? Where I live the houses are 80-100 years old and they’re better built and nicer to live in than most newer homes.
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jhbadger ◴[17 Jan 25 15:11 UTC] No.42738314[source]▶
Basically houses in Japan are treated like cars -- as something that doesn't appreciate in value as in most places but rather depreciate over time. Some of this is maybe cultural from the time when houses in Japan were literally constructed with paper.

https://www.learnedinjapan.com/no-buy-home-japan/

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1. Over2Chars ◴[18 Jan 25 01:50 UTC] No.42745072[source]▶
I suspect it might have something to do with the prevalence of earthquakes, the likelihood of said structures being damaged in earthquakes, and building codes (I've heard) that require re-building on a regular basis.

When you build you civilization on active volcanoes having long-lasting buildings may not be a reasonable assumption.

And, yes!, they have insurance. So if you can insure buildings in volcano country, you can insure anything, anywhere, maybe?