BLUE MOUNTAIN BUSHFIRE VICTIMS UNDERINSURED

Many victims of Bushfires in Australia are going under-insured, according to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald. Many homeowners affected by bushfires in the Blue Mountains region last October, which destroyed about 200 properties, are likely to find they are up to A$185,000 out of pocket, according to the newspaper, which cited recovery coordinator Philip Koperberg. More than 98% of the devastated properties had been cleared in preparation to rebuild, but a third of properties will not be rebuilt as many owners were underinsured. “A large number of people will find themselves underinsured but inadvertently so - because the sum they have chosen to be insured for falls short of meeting the cost or rebuilding under the new regime of building codes,” said Mr Koperberg. “Many people find they are between A$85,000 and as much as A$185,000 underinsured,” he told the newspaper.