Madrid (EFE).- Three months before the second anniversary of the volcanic eruption that occurred on the Canary Island of La Palma, the Insurance Compensation Consortium (CCS) has paid 232.43 million euros in compensation to the affected, but it still has to appraise and process 1.5% of the petitions received.
As the entity has informed EFE, this is due to the exceptional characteristics of this incident have led to requests for compensation being received throughout 2022 and also in the elapsed time of 2023.
In the last three months, they explain, the rate of entry of new applications has dropped considerably, and the Consortium and its experts are examining “with reasonable caution” the reasons for the exceptional delay and the causal relationship of the claimed damages.
Most of these cases refer to damage caused by ash in cars, especially to the windows, although there are also others related to more serious claims that have already been compensated, in which the breakdowns could have worsened or hidden damage may have surfaced initially. time, which may require additional payments.
There are also some pending expert reports in areas where access is prohibited or restricted to the public and, therefore, to the affected policyholders, which have not allowed the damage to be assessed normally, and even in which the time that has elapsed may have aggravated the problems initially observed.
As reported to EFE by the CCS, the 232.4 million euros already paid represent 97.5% of the 238 million that the agency had estimated to respond to the 12,761 requests received to date.
Of that amount, 192.84 million euros corresponded to damage to homes and communities of owners, while another 1.63 million to car breakdowns, explains the Consortium.
Another 27.53 million have been for shops, hotels, office premises and other public or private real estate for non-industrial use and another 10.43 million have corresponded to industries.
Los Llanos de Aridane has been the most affected town, with 5,083 requests for compensation and 168.84 million euros paid to the insured so far, followed by El Paso, with 2,089 requests received and 34.78 million in compensation.
Next, Tazacorte, with 691 applications received and with payments of 22.73 million in payments, followed by Santa Cruz de La Palma, with 1,242 applications and 1.52 million paid; Breña Alta, with 1,152 applications received and 1.24 million and Breña Baja, with 955 applications and 1.19 million, among other locations.
The CCS is a Spanish public business entity attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, which is in charge of compensating private insurance clients for damages corresponding to extraordinary risks that insurers cannot take responsibility for. EFE