全国政协委员、中国保监会副主席魏迎宁8日表示，2008年我国发生了两场罕见的自然灾害，灾难造成的惨重损失给人们留下了沉痛记忆，也对加强巨灾风险管理提出新的要求。他认为，建立巨灾保险制度已经成了一项迫切任务。他指出，建立巨灾保险制度，利用巨灾保险基金的长期资金积累，以及巨灾再保险分担机制，可以快速筹集大量资金，促进灾后重建。

The country's current insurance coverage¹ is incapable² of offering adequate compensation for losses from catastrophes⁴.

China should establish catastrophe³ insurance as soon as possible, Wei Yingning, vice⁵ chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said here Sunday.

The country's current insurance coverage is incapable of offering adequate compensation for losses from catastrophes, said Wei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

About 30 percent of losses from catastrophes in developed countries are covered by insurers, and the proportion is lower than five percent in China, Wei said in a speech at a plenary meeting of the top political advisory⁷ body.

Huge losses in the rare blizzard⁸ in south China last winter and the massive May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province added to the country's fiscal⁹ burden, he said.

The two disasters incurred¹⁰ losses of more than 150 billion yuan(21.9 billion U.S. dollars) and more than 800 billion yuan, respectively.

The State Council, China's cabinet, should set up a joint¹¹ team to lead the catastrophe insurance work, he suggested.

The catastrophe insurance should be framed in the country's disaster prevention and response system with pledged support in subsidies¹² and favorable taxes, he added.

Both state and private capital should be mobilized to support the catastrophe insurance fund, the political advisor⁶ said.

Commercial insurers should be encouraged to offer compensation for catastrophe losses, he said.

"However, the government should step in when losses are beyond the capabilities¹³ of insurers."

Vocabulary:

catastrophe insurance: 巨灾保险