Thailand rolls out household insurance against natural disasters
The state-funded scheme covers 30 million households, with residential property protection capped at ฿100,000 per household for each incident.
A Thai government insurance programme now covers 30 million households nationwide for losses caused by earthquakes, floods and windstorms. The National News Bureau of Thailand said Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul launched the initiative, named Disaster Insurance for the People.
The government pays for the coverage, which took effect on October 1 and ends on September 30, 2027. Annual renewals are planned. The residential property benefit is limited to ฿100,000 for each household affected by an incident.
Households with flood damage are entitled to ฿10,000 as a first payment and as much as ฿90,000 in further compensation. Damage caused by either windstorms or earthquakes qualifies for ฿5,000 initially, followed by additional compensation capped at ฿95,000.
A separate flood provision allows ฿10,000 per incident when water surrounds a household and prevents normal daily living for over seven days in succession. The insurance also provides accident-related life cover worth ฿2 million for each person.
Anutin told governors, district chiefs, local administrative organisations and community-level officials to familiarise themselves with the policy. They were instructed to give residents straightforward explanations of the benefits and who qualifies.
The programme supplements existing disaster assistance with a specified procedure for verification and claims. The government expects quicker compensation and smaller financial losses from natural disasters, and aims to support home repairs and the restoration of families’ livelihoods.
