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Hailstones dent insurance firms
Wu Jing was upset to see her Volkswagen Jetta car with more than 100 dents caused by unseasonal hailstones in Beijing. "To see such ugly pockmarks on my car really hurts me," said Wu, whose car was hit twice by Tuesday's hailstones, for about 10 minutes around 2:30 pm and for about five minutes around 7:10 pm. The hailstones caused an estimated 48.16 million yuan (US$5.8 million) in direct economic losses, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs said. Chen Qian, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Branch of the People's Insurance Company of China, said they had received 6,900 claims for compensation by Wednesday afternoon, and that figure is expected to grow. The Beijing subsidiary of the China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd (CPIC) had received more than 4,100 similar claims by yesterday, said Yang Guofang, a director with the firm. The reports are mostly about dents in vehicles and broken windshields. "The hotline for reporting damage keeps ringing, and our inspectors have all been sent out," said Yang. The CPIC is expected to pay compensation of 8 million yuan (US$960,000) to customers, Yang estimated. In Wu's case, the insurance appraiser estimated that her car, which is fully insured, will cost the insurance company around 2,000 yuan (US$240). The CPIC also extended the 24-hour reporting deadline to 48 hours. In addition, most insurance companies have simplified claim procedures. More than 300 cars crowded into the Beijing No 3 Vehicle Repair Factory, which has an agreement with the CPIC. "Aside from the usual daily volume of 200 vehicles, it may take us two weeks to repair the cars damaged by the hailstones," Yang said. Crops covering almost 14,000 hectares and more than 87,000 people were affected by the hail, the Bureau of Civil Affairs said. In another development, floods are likely to occur in several areas south of the Yangtze River this month as more downpours are predicted in the coming days. "This month, precipitation will be as much as 400 millimetres in northeastern part of Jiangxi, western part of Zhejiang and northern part of Fujian provinces," a weather official predicted yesterday in Beijing.
(China Daily 06/03/2005 page3) |
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