After an Earthquake in Türkiye: DASK, Home and Motor Policies

Which Clocks Start Running After the Shaking Stops?

After an earthquake there is never a single claim file. The structural parts of the building sit with Compulsory Earthquake Insurance, run by DASK, the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool. Contents and losses above the DASK sum insured sit with a voluntary home policy. The car sits with kasko, Türkiye's own-damage motor cover. Each has its own counterparty, deadline and list of what it pays.

Article B.1 of the General Conditions of Compulsory Earthquake Insurance requires the policyholder or the insured to notify DASK, or the insurer acting on its behalf, within fifteen business days of learning that the loss has occurred. The General Conditions of Land Vehicles Kasko Insurance set the equivalent deadline at five business days (B.1.1).

If any other policy carrying earthquake cover exists on the same building or location, that too must be declared to DASK (B.1.5). An undeclared second policy stalls the file at the settlement stage.

The deadline applies to the notification, not to the paperwork. Notify first and open the file, then complete the documents. In short:

• Structural parts of the building — Compulsory Earthquake Insurance (DASK), fifteen business days
• Contents, debris removal, loss of rent — voluntary home policy, if held
• Vehicle damage — kasko, only where earthquake was added by supplementary agreement, five business days
• Any second policy carrying earthquake cover — must also be declared to DASK

How a DASK Claim Is Notified

DASK accepts claim notifications through three channels: the Alo DASK 125 call centre, dask.gov.tr and the e-Devlet state portal. Giving the policy number or the national identity number, the full address of the damaged dwelling and a contact telephone number is enough to open the file.

The process then runs in four steps. DASK opens the file and sends its number by SMS, appoints a loss adjuster and sends the adjuster's details the same way. The adjuster then arranges an appointment to inspect the dwelling.

At the assessment stage the owner is asked for a current title deed record and identity details of the registered owners, obtainable from the land registry office or the online land registry service. Where the deed and the policy carry a mortgage annotation, meaning the dwelling was bought with a housing loan, the file is closed only after the lender's consent is obtained.

Where an indemnity is due, it is paid to the registered owners in proportion to their shares on the title deed. For open files on heavily and moderately damaged buildings, an advance payment may be requested from DASK.

What DASK Pays and What It Does Not

Article A.1 of the General Conditions confines the cover to the structural parts of the building: foundations, main walls, party walls separating individual units, garden walls, retaining walls, ceilings and floors, stairs, lifts, landings, corridors, roofs, chimneys and similar complementary parts of the structure. Fire, explosion, tsunami and landslide arising out of the earthquake are covered under the same policy.

Article A.3 lists what falls outside. Debris removal costs, loss of profit, business interruption, loss of rent, alternative accommodation and business premises costs and similar indirect losses are excluded. So are movable property of every kind, all bodily injury including death, and claims for non-pecuniary damages.

A voluntary home policy is where those items belong. 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. What will be paid after an earthquake is settled when the policy is written, not on the day of the loss.

The sum insured is a second limit. Under Article A.4 it equals the square metre value set for the building type in the Compulsory Earthquake Insurance Tariff and Instruction, multiplied by the gross floor area, and may not exceed the maximum cover amount in that same Tariff. Where the dwelling is worth more, voluntary earthquake insurance may be written for the excess, provided the compulsory cover is in force (C.3). The values applicable for the relevant year are published in the Tariff.

A deductible applies as well. Article A.6 applies a deductible of 2 per cent of the sum insured to each loss, and DASK answers only for the part above it. The same article treats all losses occurring within any 72-hour period as a single loss, so aftershocks do not open a separate file.

Does Kasko Pay for a Car Damaged by an Earthquake?

Earthquake is not automatic cover under kasko. Article A.4 of the General Conditions of Land Vehicles Kasko Insurance lists losses caused by earthquake, landslide, storm, hail, lightning or volcanic eruption among the losses that may be included in the cover by supplementary agreement (A.4.4). Flood and inundation appear as a separate sub-clause in the same article (A.4.5).

The General Conditions define four product names: Dar Kasko, Kasko, Genişletilmiş Kasko and Tam Kasko. Supplementary perils are partly included in the extended version and fully in the comprehensive one. Whichever product the cover matches, the policy heading must carry that name in letters of at least 16 point, so the first page is worth reading.

Compulsory motor third party liability plays no part here. That policy answers for loss suffered by third parties in a traffic accident arising out of the operation of a motor vehicle; it never pays for damage to the insured's own car. If the kasko policy carries no earthquake supplementary agreement, no insurance item arises for a car damaged by an earthquake.

The notification deadline under kasko is five business days (B.1.1). Within three business days the insurer must inform the claimant of any documents it requires beyond those listed in the policy wording (B.3.1). The loss is established either by agreement between the parties or through an appointed loss adjuster.

When Is the Claim Paid and Where Do Disputes Go?

Under Compulsory Earthquake Insurance the indemnity is calculated, whether the loss is total or partial, on the rebuilding cost at market rates at the place and date of the loss, taking comparable construction characteristics into account. It can never exceed the sum insured (B.3.1).

Once the amount has been established under the law and the policy terms, DASK must pay the finalised sum to the beneficiary within one month at the latest, without exceeding the sum insured (B.4).

Where a dispute arises, the Insurance Arbitration Commission may be approached, provided the event giving rise to the dispute occurred after the membership date (C.6). All claims arising from the contract are time-barred two years after the contract ends (C.7). That two-year period runs from the end of the contract, not from the closing of the claim file.

If you are unsure which policies are in force, the Insurance Information and Monitoring Centre or the e-Devlet portal will confirm them. The first task after an earthquake is to establish exactly what cover you hold.

Does the Policy Continue on the Same Terms After a Loss?

It does not. Article B.5.2 of the General Conditions provides that in a partial loss the sum insured is reduced by the amount of indemnity paid. Where the earthquake causes a total loss, the cover ends when the indemnity is paid.

Where the damage affects the load-bearing system, the cover is reinstated only if the dwelling is repaired within the reasonable period stated in the adjuster's report. Without that repair, subsequent losses during the policy term are not paid. This is the clause most often overlooked while aftershocks continue.

The reduced sum insured does not restore itself. It is increased on a pro rata daily premium basis, starting from the date the damaged building is restored to the condition it was in the day before the loss.

Owners, or holders of a right of usufruct where one exists, must renew the contract every year. If it is not renewed by the expiry date, DASK's liability under the cover ends on the expiry date shown in the policy (C.1).

What RYL Does as an Insurance Agency

RYL Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri Limited Şirketi is an insurance agency. The policy is issued by the insurance company, and the indemnity is paid by the insurance company or, under Compulsory Earthquake Insurance, by DASK. Our work is to prepare quotations from the insurers we act for and to settle, before an earthquake, which item sits in which policy.

Two situations come up again and again after an earthquake. Compulsory Earthquake Insurance is in force but no cover was ever bought for the contents; or a kasko policy exists but the earthquake supplementary agreement was never added. Neither can be fixed after the loss. A good starting point is to look first at what Compulsory Earthquake Insurance actually covers.

If you would like to review the earthquake side of your existing policies together, filling in the quotation form is enough. We will set out the gap between Compulsory Earthquake Insurance and home and business premises insurance on a comparative basis, through sums insured and supplementary covers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• General Conditions of Compulsory Earthquake Insurance — Turkish Legislation Information System
• General Conditions of Land Vehicles Kasko Insurance — Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency (SEDDK)
• DASK (Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool) — Claims Process Leaflet
• DASK (Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool) — General Conditions
• 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.