NZ homes need risk profiles: insurers Breaking News World World New Zealand insurers want the risk of damage to homes from all natural disasters publicly available to help reduce the impact of natural hazards nationwide. The Insurance Council has released a 15-point plan aimed at minimising the risks of natural hazards causing major expense to the economy and to insurers. Chief executive Tim Grafton says it's needed after a range of expensive natural disasters in the last four years. The Canterbury earthquakes were the most expensive of these at $NZ40 billion ($A37.24 billion) - three-quarters of which will be paid by insurers - but there have also been numerous floods and slips. Mr Grafton says the already existing risks of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, weather events in a country where many people live by the coast are exacerbated by the impact of climate change. The Insurance Council report says all properties, including homes, should have publicly accessible information on the natural hazard risks they face on land information memorandum (LIM) reports. Not making this information available means insurers, owners and potential buyers may not know how risky properties are, it says. "Ironically, there are examples where residents have successfully overturned attempts to put hazard information on LIMs because of the impact that would have on their property values," it says. If the market is not allowed to signal risk through price, then the higher the cost will be when disaster does strike. Mr Grafton says he hopes more information could lead to greater attention being placed on reducing the impact of natural disasters. Reducing the risk of natural disasters can help keep insurance premiums down as well as the repair costs if disasters do strike. "We cannot control the forces of nature, but we can reduce their impact significantly by building New Zealand's capacity to withstand and recover from natural disasters," he said.