A panel held on Saturday in Beijing discussed how to provide insurance for catastrophes such as the massive earthquake in Sichuan Province.

A panel held on Saturday in Beijing discussed how to provide insurance for catastrophes such as the massive earthquake in Sichuan Province. Officials from the insurance regulator say the sector is currently unable to cope with such big disasters. Direct economic losses for the May earthquake were estimated at more than 800 billion yuan. But so far, only 1.8 billion yuan has been doled out in compensation. This is far less than the average global figure of 40 percent.

Experts say although there has been considerable expansion in China's insurance industry over the last year, there's been little improvement in how the sector deals with natural disasters. And that upgrades are necessary as soon as possible.

Experts say there are now 14 insurance systems in the world all covering natural disasters on a massive scale. And most are now managed by public departments working with the private sector. One option for China is to emulate this model to better diversify risk.

(CCTV October 20, 2008)