The magnitude 8.3 earthquake that struck Chile’s central coast on Sept. 16 caused between $600 million and $900 million in insured losses, AIR Worldwide said in an estimate of the destruction’s impact.

AIR’s lost estimates reflect insured physical damage to onshore property (residential, commercial/industrial), both structures and their contents, and auto. The catastrophe modeling outfit said that direct business interruption losses also come into play with its tally.

A number of other factors aren’t included in the AIR Worldwide loss estimates, including losses to uninsured properties, land, infrastructure and indirect business interruption losses.

The earthquake killed at least 12 people, destroyed more than 400 residential buildings and caused major damage with another 700, according to statistics cited by AIR Worldwide. Residents dealt with a number of strong aftershocks as well, and the main earthquake trigged a tsunami recorded in several countries.

Fitch Ratings noted $100 million to $1 billion in preliminary economic loss estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey, but said insured losses will be a small part of the total losses – $500 million or less – due to “the industry’s strong catastrophic reinsurance protection.”

AIR Worldwide is a Verisk Analytics business.

Source: AIR Worldwide