Natural disaster insurance applications in the world in the context of disaster risk management and a model proposal for Türkiye

Natural disaster insurance is a disaster risk financing tool critical to increasing communities' resilience against disasters. Since Türkiye is geographically vulnerable to disasters, developing a modern disaster insurance system for the country is important. In this context, the primary purpose of our study is to develop a modern natural disaster insurance model for Türkiye by examining the examples of natural disaster insurance implemented in different countries within the scope of disaster risk management and DASK, Türkiye's natural disaster insurance. In addition, the field research conducted in Istanbul province aimed to determine the factors affecting the willingness of the Turkish people to purchase disaster insurance. After examining the disaster insurance systems of 15 different countries, we determined that some essential elements came to the fore. These are a public-private partnership, risk-based insurance premiums, mandatory participation in disaster insurance, multi-peril coverage, accessible and affordable (subsidized) insurance premiums, the government being the reinsurer of last resort in disaster insurance, the existence of a risk pool in disaster insurance, the insurance system being adaptable to existing disaster risks, and encouraging protective measures and investments at the individual/household level for risk reduction. We also found that a modern disaster insurance system requires diversity in policy exemption rates, multi-year contracts, and transparency in policy terms. We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses to analyze the data obtained from our field research with 673 participants. We found that participants preferred extended hazard coverage disaster insurance (74.1%) and discounted disaster insurance (78.9%) more. We also found that 63% of participants requested a policy period of 5 years or more in their insurance contracts. We proposed a natural disaster insurance model for Türkiye by combining the best aspects of country practices and field research results.