Insurance Bureau of Canada's Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion present in
the regions

MONTREAL, May 6 /CNW Telbec/ - As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) deployed its Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion (CAMP) to raise awareness among the general population about the importance of prevention in dealing with emergencies and informing citizens about various insurance issues.

Are you prepared?

IBC has teamed up with Quebec's Ministère de la Sécurité publique (MSP), the Canadian Red Cross and Public Safety Canada to underscore this 3rd annual Emergency Preparedness Week, which stresses the importance of being well prepared to deal with a disaster. MPS and IBC will promote this initiative in all Quebec regions from May 6 to 8, and more specifically in Chicoutimi, Quebec City and Montreal, to stress the importance of having an emergency kit on hand to meet essential needs for 72 hours while awaiting the assistance of first responders.

"Being prepared to face emergency situations is to acknowledge that no Quebecer is immune. Disasters can strike in the summer or winter with no warning. We can't prevent them from happening, but we can certainly take measures to minimize their negative impact: it's not simply a matter of having insurance coverage and putting together an emergency kit, it's also investing in the maintenance and landscaping of your home to make it safe so that it can stand up to the vagaries of Mother Nature", stressed Jack Chadirdjian, Director of Member Services, and Public and Governmental Affairs, at IBC.

On-site presence

Together with provincial authorities, IBC will also dispatch its Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion to disaster sites where significant damage has occurred, to assist those individuals concerned with their insurance questions and claims settlement process.

As Jack Chadirdjian noted, "In an emergency, once you've made sure you and your family are safe, material concerns are the next priority. Thanks to the Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion, IBC will be on site to help individuals, more specifically by answering their questions and putting them in touch quickly with their insurers so that they can start the claims settlement process. The aim is to get their lives back to normal as soon as possible."

The Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion is among the many initiatives taken by P&C insurers and IBC to help Canadians prepare for and deal with the increasing number of major disasters.

About Insurance Bureau of Canada

Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, car and business insurers. Its member companies represent 90% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. The P&C insurance industry employs over 110,000 Canadians, pays more than $6 billion in taxes to the federal, provincial and municipal governments, and manages a total premium base of $39 billion.

For further information: Anne Morin, [phone], ext. 229