Dubai: The recent spate of fires and property damage due to flooding during the past 18 months has sparked interest in insuring one’s home contents, insurers say, but not strong enough to convince residents to actually insure their homes here.
At least eight residential fires have erupted in the country over the last 18 months, leaving five people dead and hundreds of families homeless for some time. In March, eight hours of torrential rain transformed neighbourhoods in the Jebel Ali area into a virtual water world, damaging properties due to gushing floodwaters accompanied by mud.
The effects of displacement from one’s home due to unforeseen circumstances such as fires, floods, burst water pipes, and other reasons can be minimised if tenants have home contents insurance, which costs a minimum of Dh225 for a Dh75,000 coverage. But sadly, only about six per cent of UAE residents have it, a 2013 survey said.
John Waldron, underwriting manager MENA — Personal Property and Private Client Group at AIG, said: “Over the past 18 months in particular, there have been a number of high-profile incidents in the UAE and we see a natural spike in interest from potential customers in home insurance, which then subsides over time,” Waldron told Gulf News.
Issam Mouslimani, head of Regional Retail Product Offering at AXA Gulf, noticed the same trend. He said the numbers are slowly picking up but are still not as significant as it should be, compared with other countries.
“From the beginning of 2015 until June 2016, we have seen over 35 per cent growth in policy count of AXA’s Home Insurance Portfolio, which is a testament to the increase in awareness on the subject. However, this is still not enough to encourage residents to make this a regular practice, which is more of a requirement these days,” Mouslimani told Gulf News.
“In the last year, particularly with the increase in fires, home insurance has become extremely important for residents to acquire in order to safeguard their personal space and valuable belongings in the occurrence of an unexpected event. Unfortunately, most people realise the importance of investing in home insurance only when faced with unfavourable circumstances,” he added.
For the most recent fire on Wednesday, flat owners of Sulafa Tower are fortunate because the building and independent owners’ flats are insured. But the benefits of alternative accommodation are limited to owners living in their flats at the time of the fire.
To give residents an idea how financially draining fires or unfortunate events could be, Gulf News reported in June the story of an Indian family of four who were rendered homeless after a fire broke out in their flat.
The family, who insured their home contents for Dh400 that year, had to stay in a paid alternative accommodation for 38 days until their flat was repaired. If they had not had contents insurance then, they would have had to cough up Dh75,000 for the repairs and other expenses in one go.
“Our message is for people to be proactive in insuring their homes here in Dubai as, we have seen once again this week, these incidents can strike anyone at any time,” Waldron said.
“Home insurance gives peace of mind at a reasonable price, securing assets and wealth an individual or a family has accumulated over time against potential losses that may happen,” he added.
Timeline: Residential Fires
July 20, 2016
75-storey Sulafa Tower, located opposite Oceana Towers and Westin Hotel, went up in flames in Dubai Marina, There are no injuries or casualties reported.
June 6, 2016
A mother and her two daughters died when a fire broke out in their shared house in Al Ghafya area of Sharjah.
March 28, 2016
A huge fire gutted at least two buildings in the Ajman One residential cluster of 12 towers close to the border with Sharjah. The fire mainly damaged Ajman Tower 1.
January 28, 2016
A fire broke out at the Diamond 4 Tower in Dubai Marina. There were no reports of casualties
November 23, 2015
A massive fire broke out in Al Shamsi building on Salah Al Deen Street in Dubai near Muraqqabat police station destroying three blocks, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents from nearby buildings and suspension of Dubai Metro services.
October 1, 2015
A massive fire erupted in the Nasser Tower located on King Faisal Street in Sharjah. The 32-storey building consists of 26 residential floors and six levels of car parking. Around 250 families were evacuated.
September 8, 2015
Two tenants died and one was severely injured in an attempt to escape a fire that ripped through a one-bedroom apartment in the England Cluster of International City in Dubai
February 21, 2015
A fire erupted in the 86-storey The Torch tower at Dubai Marina. The fire started on the 52nd floor and spread to the floors above. The 352-metre Torch was the world’s tallest residential building when it opened in 2011. There were no serious injuries or casualties reported.
