Economic damages from Haiti earthquake estimated to be in the “hundreds of millions of dollars”: EQECAT

A severe earthquake hitting near Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince has likely caused economic damages in the “hundreds of millions of dollars,” catastrophe-modelling firm EQECAT says in a press release.
Nevertheless, because of Haiti’s weak economic conditions, private insurers will likely only be exposed to insured damages in the “millions,” a representative of the Insurance Information Institute, Robert P. Hartwig, told the Wall Street Journal.
“Insured losses will be minimal, despite the severity of the event,” the Wall Street Journal quotes Hartwig as saying. “The reason is that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, with very little private insurance.”
The earthquake measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale. EQECAT estimates 2 million Haitians would have been affected by “very strong” or “severe” categories of ground shaking. 
EQECAT noted that since the region’s insurance underwriting standards are expected to be better than the area’s building standards, “insured buildings will generally perform better than the typical building [affected by the earthquake], but this earthquake is very severe, and even well-designed buildings could expect damage from this event.”