Disaster Insurance

I couldn’t agree with you more that homeowners across the nation should press for a federal disaster insurance program (“Disaster Insurance: The Job Is Too Big for the States,” editorial, Oct. 14).

The insurance industry has been struck by several major natural disasters in rapid succession since Hurricane Hugo. It doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that the insurance companies will either have to manage their exposure in disaster-prone areas or face insolvency.

Fortunately, the Natural Disaster Protection Partnership Act is sitting in Congress right now, awaiting debate and passage. Under the proposal, a privately funded insurance corporation would be created and would provide reinsurance to insurers of businesses and multifamily residential structures, and catastrophic insurance coverage to homeowners. Rates would be set by an independent group of federally appointed private actuaries and the bill encourages states to adopt and improve enforcement of model building codes.

It even enjoys widespread, bipartisan support. Seems to me this is just the tonic we seek; what are we waiting for?

DAVID FRY

Covina

Virtually every part of the country is subject to disasters of various kinds at one time or another. We have earthquakes and brush fires. Florida and the Carolinas have hurricanes; Kansas its tornadoes; Oregon and Idaho have forest fires and Hawaii suffers from tsunamis. The list is almost endless.

What we need is national disaster insurance. Hurricane insurance is dirt-cheap in Los Angeles, as is earthquake insurance in Miami. If, instead of isolating insurance coverage to a narrow type of disaster in a small area, we simply offered coverage on a broad range of disasters over the entire country, the losses would be spread over a much larger area.

CHUCK WELCH

Los Angeles