What Is DASK and What Does It Cover?

What DASK Is and Which Buildings Must Have It

DASK stands for Doğal Afet Sigortaları Kurumu, the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool. In everyday speech the institution's name is used as though it were the policy's; in the legislation the policy is Compulsory Earthquake Insurance, based on Law No. 6305 on Catastrophe Insurance. It is no single insurer's product: insurers act as intermediaries in the name and on behalf of DASK, and DASK provides the cover.

Article A.1 of the General Conditions sets out the scope: individual units falling under Condominium Law No. 634, buildings constructed as dwellings on registered immovable property in private ownership, units within those buildings used as shops, offices and the like, and dwellings built by the state or with state-provided credit following a natural disaster.

The third item is easily missed: a shop or an office inside a building erected as a dwelling is also subject to the compulsory cover. Scope follows the character of the building as a whole, not the use of a single unit.

Nor is the cover limited to the tremor itself: fire, explosion, tsunami and landslide arising out of the earthquake are paid under the same policy.

Which Parts of the Building the Cover Reaches

What the structural parts within cover share is that each belongs to the building itself. Lifts, garden walls and retaining walls serve the building rather than any one flat, which is why they sit within cover. The indemnity is paid to the registered owners in proportion to their title deed shares.

Cover runs up to the sum insured. Under Article A.5, where it exceeds the rebuilding cost of the dwelling, the portion above that cost is void; on learning of this during the policy period the institution reduces the sum insured and refunds the excess premium for the current year on a pro rata daily basis.

More than one policy cannot be taken out for the same building or unit (C.3). A second policy does not double the cover; issued in error, it is cancelled from inception upon documentation by the policyholder and the full premium refunded (C.2).

Article A.1 enumerates those parts one by one. The list is not open to interpretation: an item not named does not enter the cover by assumption.

• Foundations
• Main walls
• Party walls separating individual units
• Garden walls
• Retaining walls
• Ceilings and floors
• Stairs
• Lifts
• Landings and corridors
• Roofs and chimneys
• Similar complementary parts of the structure

Why Household Contents Fall Outside the Cover

Because Compulsory Earthquake Insurance is a building policy, not a home policy. Article A.3 lists the exclusions explicitly, and movable property, goods and the like form the second item (A.3.2).

The same article also excludes debris removal, loss of profit, business interruption, loss of rent, alternative accommodation and business premises costs, financial liabilities and similar indirect losses (A.3.1); all bodily injury including death (A.3.3); non-pecuniary damages (A.3.4); damage other than that from the earthquake and from fire, explosion, tsunami or landslide resulting from it (A.3.5); and damage developing over time from the building's own defects, without link to a particular earthquake event (A.3.6).

That last item matters in practice. A crack that cannot be tied to the day of the earthquake counts as damage arisen over time from the building's own condition, and is not paid. This is the most disputed point in post-earthquake loss adjustment.

A voluntary home policy closes the gap. Article A.3 of the General Conditions of Fire Insurance lists earthquake among the perils that may be added by supplementary agreement; debris removal costs and loss of rent may be added too, provided their sums insured are separately stated.

The second gap sits at the ceiling on the sum insured. Where the dwelling is worth more, insurers may write voluntary earthquake insurance for the excess, provided the compulsory cover is already in place (C.3). A home package policy exists to close these two gaps.

Which Buildings Are Outside the Scope, and Why Disclosure Matters

Disclosure decides as much as scope does. Under Article C.2, DASK writes the contract on the policyholder's declaration of the true state of the risk. Gross floor area, construction type, address and past earthquake damage history must all be declared accurately.

Where the declaration is untrue or incomplete in a way that would have required more onerous terms, DASK or the intermediary insurer may require the premium difference within 15 days of learning of it. If this comes to light after an earthquake, the indemnity is paid in the proportion the premium taken bears to the premium that should have been taken.

Where moderate or heavier damage in past earthquakes is found to have been deliberately withheld, DASK may withdraw from the contract even after the loss and retains the premium. Disclosure is the least visible part of the policy and the most expensive to get wrong.

The buildings outside the scope are listed under seven headings in Article A.2. The third heading below deserves attention: a building used entirely for commercial or industrial purposes is outside the scope, while a single shop inside a residential building is within it. The distinction looks at the building as a whole, so mixed-use properties should be clarified before the policy is issued.

• Buildings and units subject to the Public Housing Law or used as public service buildings
• Buildings erected in and around village settlement areas and hamlets by people registered in and permanently resident in the village
• Buildings used entirely for commercial or industrial purposes
• Buildings without a project and without engineering services
• Buildings found to have been altered or weakened in a way that adversely affects the load-bearing system
• Buildings constructed contrary to the relevant legislation and the project in a way that adversely affects the load-bearing system
• Buildings whose demolition has been decided by the competent public authorities, together with buildings unfit for use as dwellings, neglected, dilapidated or abandoned

How the Sum Insured and the Deductible Are Set

Under Article A.4 the sum insured equals the square metre value set for the building type in the Tariff and Instruction, multiplied by the dwelling's gross (or approximate) floor area. The Tariff groups construction into two types: reinforced concrete and other.

The sum insured may in no case exceed the maximum cover amount in the Tariff and Instruction. That amount depends on the year: since 1 January 2024 the square metre value used to set it has been increased each month while the contract is in force, without additional premium, in line with the domestic producer price index announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute for the previous month. The figures applicable for the relevant year are published in the Tariff.

Article A.6 applies a deductible of 2 per cent of the sum insured to each loss, DASK answering for the part above it. The same article treats all losses within any 72-hour period as one loss.

Two rules matter on the premium side. The premium is exempt from every tax, duty and charge and is paid in advance against delivery of the policy; instalments through a credit card or financial institution are possible provided they are not passed on to the institution. If the whole premium or its first instalment is unpaid despite delivery of the policy, DASK's liability does not begin, and this condition is printed on the face of the policy (C.1).

The contract runs for one year (A.7). Owners, or holders of a right of usufruct where one exists, must renew it every year.

What Happens Without a Policy, and When the Home Is Sold

Article 11 of Law No. 6305 on Catastrophe Insurance sets up two checkpoints. Land registry offices may not carry out registration transactions for units and buildings within scope — nor deletion transactions, save where registered property becomes property not subject to registration — unless the insurance is documented as taken out and valid at the transaction date.

The second checkpoint is utilities. The same article requires the relevant utility to verify the existence of compulsory earthquake insurance in water and electricity subscription transactions for buildings and units within scope.

If the policy is not renewed by its expiry date, DASK's liability ends on that date (C.1). Renewal belongs in a calendar, because nobody knows the date of the loss.

Where the beneficial owner changes during the policy period, the insurance continues with the new owner, who must have a transfer endorsement issued and submit it to the land registry office so the sale can be completed. In other cases the policyholder and the new owner who learns of the insurance must notify the intermediary insurer within 15 days (C.4).

Where RYL Comes In as an Insurance Agency

RYL Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri Limited Şirketi is an insurance agency. The policy is issued by the insurance company, and under Compulsory Earthquake Insurance the cover and the indemnity come from DASK. Our work is to prepare quotations from the insurers we act for and to show in advance where the cover stops.

The question we hear most often is whether an existing DASK policy is enough. The answer comes from comparing the sum insured with the gross floor area, construction type and real value of the dwelling. Where it falls below the property's value the difference stays with the owner, and the contents were never covered to begin with.

To have both gaps calculated together, the quotation form is enough. We set out Compulsory Earthquake Insurance and home and business premises insurance side by side. Steps to follow after a loss are gathered in what to do after an earthquake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• General Conditions of Compulsory Earthquake Insurance — Turkish Legislation Information System
• Compulsory Earthquake Insurance Tariff and Instruction — Turkish Legislation Information System
• Law No. 6305 on Catastrophe Insurance — Turkish Legislation Information System
• DASK (Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool) — Guarantees and Coverage
• General Conditions of Fire Insurance — Insurance Association of Türkiye

This article is for information only; the scope of cover is set by the policy’s specific and general terms.