Cyclone Sidr hasn't hurt insurance cos much

---

Shakhawat Hossain
Last month's cyclonic storm Sidr that devastated the country's coastal districts has not burdened the insurance companies with much financial liabilities.
The insurance companies were, initially, worried that there could be substantial claims from cell phone companies having a large number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) in the coastal districts.
"But surprisingly, we have not received many insurance claims from the country's leading mobile cell phone operators until now," Reliance Insurance Co Ltd executive vice-president Anisur Rahman told the FE Sunday.
Reliance provides insurance coverage to Grameen Phone and Banglalink.
Both the companies have several thousand BTS across the country, including the Sidr-hit districts.
The base stations, built on iron structure, have remained intact in most of the affected areas, said a senior Grameen Phone official.
The officials of the Reliance Insurance, according to Rahman, have already visited the cyclone hit areas to assess the damage. The field visits suggested that Reliance and other co-insurers were unlikely to face any major insurance claims from the mobile operators, he added.
"It was a big relief for us when we were pretty sure that insurance companies would not be facing any major losses due to the devastating cyclone," said additional managing director of Green Delta Insurance Co Ltd Farid A Chowdhury.
Chowdhury recalled the huge losses incurred by the insurance companies due to the devastations caused by the 1991 cyclone in Chittagong.
"The 1991 cyclone pounded the country's main industrial town and forced huge financial losses to the insurance companies. But the latest one hit the rural areas of the coastline," he said.
Green Delta Insurance provides insurance coverage to a number of operators including Aktel as a co-insurer with the Pragati General Insurance Ltd.
Mostak, senior manager of Pragati, said his company is facing an insurance claim by Aktel following damage of a BTS at Kawkhali in Pirojpur.
The total insurance claim will not be more than Tk 3.0 million, he said.
The insurance officials, however, said they may have to face insurance claims worth about Tk 10 million in case of serious damage of a single BTS. They pointed out BTS is a sophisticated and integral part of the telecom network system.