FEMA Report Explores Blockchain For Disaster Insurance Payouts

A recent report by the advisory board of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends using blockchain to expedite insurance payouts in the event of a disaster.

Blockchain for parametric insurance is well suited because smart contracts can automatically trigger payouts if certain conditions are met.

But this can be enabled only with trusted data sources, which can be solved with the cryptography of blockchain networks.

The draft report cites Hurricanes Maria in Puerto Rico or Harvey in Texas, where citizens lost essential documents such as policy papers, land ownership records and personal identification needed to file a claim.

An additional benefit is the potential redundancy that blockchain brings. If there are multiple copies of records, when a disaster wipes out one set of storage, other nodes on the network can provide resiliency.