In the event of a major earthquake, property owners will have to contribute a small share towards covering the damage.
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Keystone-SDA
On Friday, the Federal Council put a joint financing system out to consultation. Even though protection against earthquakes is in principle the responsibility of the cantons, the federal government has the power to legislate at national level and to levy a contribution from property owners.
The plan is for all property owners to contribute a maximum of 0.7% of the insured value of their buildings to cover the damage. As things stand, if a major earthquake were to occur, some CHF22 billion would be available to cover the damage.
This figure corresponds to the amount of damage expected in the event of an earthquake that is expected to occur once every 500 years.
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