Earthquake damage Swiss homeowners to pay after severe earthquake

After a severe earthquake in Switzerland, the Federal Council wants homeowners to contribute a maximum of 0.7 percent of the building insurance sum to cover the damage. The federal government intends to draw up a dispatch to this effect by the end of 2024.

This would make around CHF 22 billion available to cover damage in the event of an earthquake, the Federal Council wrote on Wednesday.

The proposal to make landowners contribute to the costs of covering damage to buildings in the event of an earthquake met with complete rejection from the SVP, the Homeowners' Association and the Insurance Association during the consultation process. A majority of the cantons as well as the building insurance companies, the Greens and the mountain regions took a completely different view.

However, the Federal Council intends to refrain from enshrining an additional federal competence to protect people and property in the event of an earthquake in the constitution, as it also announced. Several cantons had previously spoken out against a new federal competence for earthquake prevention.