The emotional damage cannot be undone, but victims of the fires will at least receive insurance money to rebuild their homes. Nicholas Scofield of Allianz Australia talks about rebuilding lives after the fires.
 | Nicholas Scofield, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Allianz Australia"Many customers are simply not ready to talk about claims as they wait for news of friends and loved ones still missing." (Photo: Allianz Australia) |
What is the general mood in the face of such a disaster?
Employees and management are saddened by the recent Victorian bushfires. We have the deepest sympathy for the victims. The tragedy, however, has sparked a high level of comradeship amongst Allianz employees and amongst the Australian public in general. The entire community is rallying behind the victims and offering support in whatever way they can.
Our claims staff have demonstrated exceptional empathy and understanding both on the phone and personally at relief centres. Allianz Australia employees have donated more than $74,000 Australian dollars to the Bushfire Appeal. The company will match this on a dollar-for-dollar basis as well as making an additional $100,000 donation. Really, the response of our employees has been outstanding.
When did you set up an emergency response team and how does it work?
Our Event Response Plan (ERP) was enacted on February 8, a Sunday afternoon, after reports of fatalities started to increase in the Australian media. Within less than 12 hours we had advertisements running on Victorian radio highlighting our claims hotline.
The actual number of claims is not extraordinary from an insurer’s perspective, but the time spent on each one can be quite long. This is a time of great personal loss; it is really important that our customers can tell their story in their own time and not feel pressured by us to hurry up.
There are 16 people currently working full-time on this specialist team. Eight colleagues are ‘on the spot’ to help victims at the emergency relief centres in the towns of Whittlesea, Yea, Yarra Glen and Traralgon where the bushfires did the most damage. Another 15 staff members support their efforts with communications, reporting, and systems.
But it really is a group effort. Our Market Management team is creating radio, print and online advertisements to help our customers and developing regular communications to keep our business partners informed of our activities.
Our IT staff helped install priority queues on all our claims phone lines. And they made sure that laptops and phones got to teams on the ground. Our finance experts gave priority turnaround to emergency fund payments. Our lawyers reviewed all necessary documents immediately. Other divisions provided extra staff to support the relief centres and so on.
 | Picture Gallery (click on the image to start)Australia experienced its worst natural disaster in decades. Find out why (Photo: Reuters) |
Did all these efforts help to get money faster to those in need?
The fires were so intense that we have received a large number of claims for total losses. We have managed to cash settle all motor vehicle total losses received to date, the majority within 24 hours of notification.
The settlement of building claims is a different matter. For one thing, it depends on whether the customer wishes to rebuild. But many customers are simply not ready to talk about claims as they wait for news of friends and loved ones still missing.
So far, we have paid out more than 2.5 million Australian dollars for emergency measures such as buying food and clothing, and to customers who lost their vehicles and homes.
How did customers and media react to your service?
There have been many remarkable tales and phone calls. One customer had two cars insured with Allianz and lost them both in the fires. He called us to see how long the process would be and what he had to do. Through the course of two phone calls the claim was settled and money transferred into his account that very day.
A day later he was back on the phone. He said after thinking about the experience he could not believe how quick and easy it was. He said while it's only a small part of the whole tragedy it was an integral part because he could now get on with this part of his life.
Another story from one of our staff members, Shelley Campton, made us really proud. Shelley was manning a relief centre on the weekend. When she went for a break, she was stopped by one of the coordinators who had noticed her Allianz shirt. The woman told Shelley that we were doing a fantastic job.
She had just been in Alexandra at another relief centre and told her the town was "abuzz" with how great Allianz was. Apparently, a home insurance customer had stood up at a community meeting and explained how quickly claims had been settled and that "they actually cared".
How did your staff cope with this situation?
Nearly every single claim that has been lodged has had a profound impact on our people. These claims often involved a fatality or the complete loss of a family’s home, along with all their most treasured possessions.
One of our staff on the ground gleaned an idea of the ferocity of the firestorm. He was walking down a street when he overheard a man reliving the moment he outdrove the fire at 100 km/h and was lucky to escape as the flames began to overtake his car. When you think of the speed of a fire travelling at 100 km/h, you understand why so many people didn’t have enough time to escape.
editor: Thilo Kunzemann
publishing date: February 19, 2009
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