Two weeks ago a strong earthquake was felt in Iceland, causing some property damage, but thankfully no deaths. According to a report by Risk Management Solutions, the quake caused only light to moderate property damage and resulted in some injuries.
RMS said: “According to preliminary reports from the USGS, the epicentre was around 30 miles (50 kilometres) east southeast of Reykjavik. The USGS indicates that there was strong to very strong shaking in the epicentre region, with the potential of light to moderate damage.
“Selfoss is the largest town in the epicentre region with a population of around 6,000. Damage reports suggest that there has been considerable content damage to homes in Hveragerdi, Selfoss, Thorlakshofn, Eyrarbakki and Stokkseyri.”
RMS is a London-based company. Neena Saith, the catastrophe response manager for the firm, said: “Preliminary reports suggest that structural damage seems to be fairly light, mainly consisting of cracked walls, although one farm house appears to have collapsed. Some residents were injured during the earthquake, but no fatalities have been reported.
“The last significant earthquakes in this region were in 2000 when a magnitude 6.5 and magnitude 6.1 struck southern Iceland. Both these events occurred in slightly less populated areas than the May 29 earthquake and insured losses of USD 15 million and USD 9 million respectively were reported.”
RMS is continuing to monitor the situation, paying particular attention in the aftermath to how the earthquake will impact the insurance industry.