On 26th January 2001, a massive earthquake hit the Bhuj district of Gujarat and an entire city was demolished within minutes. Similarly, on the 26th December of 2004, India woke up to the shocking story of Tsunami hitting the coastal area and thousands of people lost their lives and their homes to the disaster. Natural disasters can strike anytime. They come unannounced and cause unbelievable losses to the human lives and human habitat. In fact, in one natural disaster, you can lose everything you have ever established in your life.
A natural disaster is any major process which occurs due to a natural process. Examples of natural disaster include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.
But does this mean you should remain scared all your life? Oh no. Not at all. There is something you can do to protect yourself. Purchase these three types of insurance plans to minimize the financial loss incurred due to natural disasters.
Term Insurance
The most important loss is the loss of lives. The demise of the breadwinner of a family due to any cause can change a family completely. While a person cannot be replaced in any way, the financial loss due to the absence of a person can at least be compensated. Purchase a term insurance to protect yourself financially. Term Insurance provides high coverage at a very low cost. This policy is meant to compensate you for financial losses. However, one thing you should keep in mind, it does not provide any returns whatsoever. If the policy holder expires during the term of the policy, the insurance amount is paid to the nominee. If the policyholder survives, nothing is paid to anybody.
Home Insurance
After you have protected yourself, protect the roof which protects you and your family. Purchase a home insurance to protect your home from natural calamities like earthquake, storm, flood, fire, etc. Although, the term mentioned here is home insurance, but you can use this kind of insurance for protecting your business establishment as well. A vanilla home insurance usually provides coverage from all the natural calamities except earthquake. For coverage against earthquake, you might have to pay something extra because the premium depends on the geographical location. A home insurance can also protect your property from burglary.
Personal Accidental Insurance
Well, natural disasters don’t just claim lives, they can leave someone seriously injured, temporarily or permanently disabled as well. In such cases, personal accident insurance will come in very handy. So what does it cover? Personal Accidental Insurance basically provides four kinds of coverages – permanent disability, temporary total disability, permanent partial disability and death. Lump sum compensation is provided up to 100% of the sum assured in case of permanent disability or death. In the case of permanent partial disability, a part of the sum assured is paid to the insured. In the case of temporary disability, this kind of insurance offers a weekly compensation up to 104 weeks.
Don’t wait till a natural calamity strikes to feel sorry. When the earthquake hit Bhuj, people in Chennai felt assured that they do not live in an earthquake prone zone. Little did they know that years later, they will be affected by Tsunami. Hence, you never know what can strike you at which point of time. It is better to protect yourself from before than crying over spilled milk.