Volunteers from Korean Re have taken part in a home rebuilding project to help areas of Thailand devastated by flooding.
The reinsurer embarked on its annual overseas volunteer work in a disaster-hit area and travelled to Thailand last week to help rebuild homes that were destroyed by severe flooding in 2011.
A team of 19 Korean Re staff members, including 16 new hires, made the trip to Ayuthaya, a region which saw its biggest floods in a generation. The disaster displaced 113,000 residents and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage five years ago.
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The volunteer group helped build houses for local residents over a six-day period and Korean Re CEO Jong-Gyu Won said that the volunteer work is a reminder to all insurance professionals of the power of the industry.
“I believe that the ‘spirit of mutual aid’ inherent in reinsurance can be learned from helping rebuild a ravaged city,” Won said.
“Hopefully, our new employees return from this trip with the basic spirit of reinsurance engraved on their heart before their on-the-job experience begins.”
One volunteer, who missed his university commencement for the trip, said the work provided an insight into the world of insurance.
“I wish I could have attended the graduation ceremony, but this is an invaluable opportunity for me to learn that where there is a risk, there is insurance,” the volunteer said.
This is the fourth year that the reinsurer has run the program.
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