An insurance company in Japan has designed a mobile service letting people gift coverage to each other.
Japanese earthquake insurance has become the latest type of digital gift people are giving people with their mobile devices. Messaging apps have been a great way for people to give each other virtual gifts for some time now. An insurance company in Japan has spotted the potential from that trend and has turned their coverage into a virtual gift.
This new option is a collaboration between a Japanese insurance company and a messaging service.
Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance has announced that it is working with Line Corp to provide a service that lets people use a messaging app to buy coverage for each other. The Line app is a very popular mobile messaging application providing users the ability to buy virtual gifts. With this new partnership, it is possible for users to buy Japanese earthquake insurance policies for their friends and family.
The earthquake insurance policy available through the mobile messaging app is valid for a year and costs about USD $4.50, (¥500). The coverage goes into effect if their region is affected by an earthquake that reaches a minimum of a “lower 6” on the seismic intensity scale used in the country. Should such an earthquake occur, covered individuals will receive a payment of around USD $90 (¥10,000).
The Japanese earthquake insurance is offered as a gift that the recipient can accept or decline.
It is up to the recipient of the earthquake insurance gift whether or not he or she would like to accept the policy. That said, once they accept, the policy becomes effective for a year. If that individual’s location is hit by an earthquake intense enough to qualify for the payout, that individual is messaged.
Line provides the earthquake insurance policyholder with a message that offers all the instructions necessary for making a claim to receive the payout on the policy.
Japanese earthquake insurance is not uncommon due to the frequency of seismic activity in the country. In fact, Japan is one of the countries in the world that is most prone to earthquakes. Every year, there are about 1,500 quakes in the country. Furthermore, about 20 percent of magnitude 6 or higher 
earthquakes occur in Japan. Seismologists have been warning residents and businesses in Japan that the country’s eastern coast, where its capital Tokyo is located, is at a high risk of experiencing high intensity earthquakes within the next three decades.
