Fire and natural hazards insurance: Windstorm and destructive fire* most frequent causes of loss in 2024
*Destructive fire: Fires caused by matches and lighters, smoking materials, candles, welding and soldering as well as fireworks.
In Liechtenstein, values amounting to CHF 31.5 billion are insured against fire and natural hazards - more than four times the gross domestic product. This figure shows the great economic importance of this insurance. It is an important component of the country's integral risk management, which includes prevention against natural hazards, coping with natural events and reconstruction.
Storm wind was the most common cause of damage from natural events in 2024, as in previous years, with 239 losses. This was followed by damage caused by hail and rockfall. In fire insurance, fires caused by matches and lighters, smoking materials, candles, welding and soldering as well as fireworks were the most common cause of loss. Out of a total of 112 claims, 19 were caused by accidental fire. In total, the insurance companies made payments of CHF 7.0 million for fire damage and CHF 2.6 million for damage caused by natural forces in 2024. Insured natural hazard damage is damage caused by natural events such as floods, inundation, storms, hail, avalanches, snow pressure, rockfall, rockslides and landslides.
The current issue of the brochure contains an interview with Eduard Held, Managing Director of the Swiss Insurance Association's Natural Disaster Pool, on the rockfall in Blatten. "Even if the event bears little comparison in terms of its tragedy and its impact on the population in the recent past: This level of damage is not a once-in-a-century event for insurers. The extent of the damage is comparable to the hailstorms in Locarno in 2023, which caused damage of over CHF 300 million within a short space of time," says Held.
Liechtenstein has also experienced devastating severe weather events. This summer marked the thirtieth anniversary of the "storm of the century" in Triesen and Triesenberg, which caused mudslides several meters high, flooded houses and swept away cars, among other things.
The FMA is entrusted with various supervisory functions in fire and natural hazards insurance and therefore has the necessary data at its disposal. The brochure Fire and natural hazard insurance in Liechtenstein is updated annually and is available on the website.
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