Storms: Will natural disasters be recognized?
The recent torrential rains and floods that hit seventeen prefectures and provinces in Morocco have caused heavy human and physical losses. Under these conditions, will the Solidarity Fund against Catastrophic Events and insurance be called upon?
For these torrential rains and their consequences to be officially recognized as a natural disaster, we will have to wait for the Head of Government’s decree. This must be published in the Official Gazette within three months of the date of the event. Law 110-14, which came into force in January 2020, provides for two compensation mechanisms: an insurance-based scheme for victims who have an insurance policy (“Catnat”, short for “natural disaster”), and a solidarity-based scheme for people not covered by insurance, via the “Solidarity Fund against Catastrophic Events ”.
To benefit from this fund, the event must be declared by an administrative act, and the victims must be entered in a national register within 90 days of the act’s publication. A monitoring commission will be responsible for collecting the necessary information and assessing the situation.
The Solidarity Fund compensates people who have suffered physical injury as a direct result of the catastrophic event, including participants in rescue and relief operations, and their dependents in the event of death or disappearance. It also covers members of a household whose primary residence has become uninhabitable, as well as dependents living under the same roof.
Compensation is paid in the event of permanent physical incapacity, or to compensate for the loss of resources suffered by beneficiaries as a result of the victim’s death or disappearance. Compensation follows the same model as that applied to road accident victims (“Dahir” – Royal Decree – establishing Law no. 1-84-177 of 6 Moharram 1405). Compensation for the loss or deprivation of use of the principal residence is also available, provided that the uninhabitable nature of the property is established by a committee of experts. The amount allocated is then adjusted according to the Fund’s financial capacity, after approval by the Insurance Supervisory Authority.
Khadija MASMOUDI
