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Economic damages from Saturday's massive earthquake in Chile are likely to be in the range of $15 billion to $30 billion, according to EQECAT Inc.
In a note to clients, the Oakland, Calif.-based catastrophe modeling company said that the magnitude 8.8 earthquake caused “significant” ground motions that affected much of central Chile, including the state of Santiago, where damages are expected to represent more than half of total damages from the event.
EQECAT, which did not estimate insured damages, noted that its economic damage estimate equates to about 10% to 15% of Chile's real gross domestic product.
The modeling company also noted that “widespread adoption and enforcement of modern, seismic-resistant building practices (in Chile) has mitigated the potential for devastation.”
In the note to clients, EQECAT estimated that most of the damage—55% to 65%--would be to residential structures, with commercial damage accounting for 20% to 30% of the total and industrial damage making up 15% to 20%.