Bologna, 1 June 2024 – One year afterflood, Emilia-Romagna still deals with damage caused by water and mud. The relief payments to families and businesses are arriving, even amidst a thousand complexities, but there are still many realities that are dealing with the consequences of this cataclysm. Despite everything, “in Italy only 8% of companies are insured against catastrophe events and 15% are those that have done so in Emilia-Romagna”, he explains Daniele Ravaglia, vice-president of Confcooperative Terre d’Emilia and president of Ciba Brokers, an insurance brokerage company in the Confcooperative system.
President Ravaglia, how do you think we can reverse this trend?
“For some time we have been urging entrepreneurs to pay attention to these issues, who in our opinion should make a cultural change. Insurance coverage is needed not only for catastrophic events, but also in other areas such as cybersecurity. They should not be considered as a cost , money thrown away, but as an investment in the future to guarantee business continuity”.
Which sectors are most affected?
“Events as serious and important as the flood have already happened and unfortunately they will happen again, we saw it a few days ago in Valsamoggia. Climate change is bringing situations of serious difficulty for businesses, in particular those in the agri-food sector”.
So waiting for reimbursements from the state may not be enough.
“We have seen that the time required to obtain compensation is particularly long and the process is complicated. If these extreme climatic phenomena continue, the fear is that the State will not have the resources to deal with everything. I believe this is a consideration that responsibly entrepreneurs and trade associations must do this: if there are no public resources, everyone must think about guaranteeing the survival of their own company”.
You as Ciba Brokers are trying to transmit this culture to the cooperative world.
“We are open to this problem and work to protect businesses. A few months after the flood, last year, we paid 120 million euros. It is very little compared to the overall damage, but we have guaranteed business continuity.”
We need a push from the state.
“I hope that the Government goes in this direction, even if in truth after having announced it forcefully it is hardly talked about anymore”.
What are the costs for those who want to insure themselves and how can they be lowered?
This year for companies in Emilia-Romagna the increase in the policy is 300% compared to last year. Costs are lowered by broadening the tax base, therefore with the mandatory or voluntary growth of insured companies being much more important, perhaps not only from the areas most at risk but from all of Italy”.
