--- title: "What to Do When a Typhoon Damages Your Home? Damage Assessment, Insurance Claims and Rebuilding Subsidies | TyphoonSays Wiki" url: https://taifengshuo.com/en/knowledge/typhoon-insurance-house language: en description: "After typhoon damage to your home, take photos and preserve evidence before filing a report. Homeowners' insurance and government-subsidized rural housing insurance cover different losses; here is a full breakdown of dangerous-building assessment and rebuilding subsidy procedures." modified: 2026-08-01T12:27:13Z retrieved: 2026-11-14T02:00:02.414Z source: TyphoonSays (taifengshuo.com) citation: Please cite as "TyphoonSays (taifengshuo.com)" with the page URL citation_guide: https://taifengshuo.com/cite --- # What to Do When a Typhoon Damages Your Home? Damage Assessment, Insurance Claims and Rebuilding Subsidies > Live typhoon data is time-sensitive. Include the data time when citing; official agency releases take precedence. [02 · Disaster Prevention, Safety, and Damage Claims](https://taifengshuo.com/en/knowledge) About 9 min read (3144 characters) [Back to encyclopedia index](https://taifengshuo.com/en/knowledge) # What to Do When a Typhoon Damages Your Home? Damage Assessment, Insurance Claims and Rebuilding Subsidies **Key summary**After typhoon damage to your home, take photos and preserve evidence before filing a report. Homeowners' insurance and government-subsidized rural housing insurance cover different losses; here is a full breakdown of dangerous-building assessment and rebuilding subsidy procedures. ## Step One: Ensure Safety First, Then Talk About Losses When returning home after a typhoon, first check **structural safety**: do not enter houses with cracks running through walls, broken beams and columns, or sunken foundations — report immediately to the village/residential committee and apply for a dangerous-building assessment. If the roof has been torn off but the structure is intact, prioritize temporary tarpaulin covering to prevent rainwater from causing further damage — note that roof surfaces are slippery after rain, and working at height always requires a safety harness or professional help. ## The Evidence Chain: The Key to a Successful Claim - **Take photos and videos immediately**: shoot an overview of the damage, close-up details, and each item of household property, with a timestamp watermark - **Do not rush to clean up or repair**: keep the scene intact until the loss is assessed; if emergency work is unavoidable, record the entire process on video - Keep purchase deeds, renovation contracts and invoices for major appliances (for items without invoices, photograph the brand and model) - **Report within 48 hours**: notify both the insurance company and the village/residential committee ## Which Insurance Policies Cover Your Home? | Policy type | Coverage | Key points | | Household property insurance | Building structure + contents | Typhoons are a listed peril; note exclusions such as flooding of basements | | Government-subsidized rural housing insurance | Self-built rural houses | In most typhoon-prone provinces the government provides pooled coverage; limits are modest but generally cover the gap in rebuilding costs | | Catastrophe insurance | Pilot schemes in some provinces and cities | In Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places, typhoon catastrophe index insurance is triggered for payouts by the government | | Mortgagor home insurance | Mortgaged homes | Required by the bank; check the beneficiary clause carefully | Whether **garages, walls, solar panels and outdoor air-conditioning units** are covered generates the most claim disputes — ask about them at the time of purchase. ## Government Relief and Rebuilding Subsidies - **Subsidies for restoring and rebuilding damaged housing**: the civil affairs (emergency management) system provides tiered subsidies based on collapsed / severely damaged / generally damaged classification, applied for through the village/residential committee - Houses assessed as Grade C/D dangerous buildings can apply for inclusion in the **rural dangerous housing renovation** program - Affected residents can apply for transitional living relief and temporary resettlement assistance ## Common Disputes and Pitfalls to Avoid - The "**wind or flood**" argument: policies may cover wind damage but not flooding, so describe the cause of loss truthfully and accurately (spell out the full chain of losses caused by typhoon wind and rain) - If the assessed amount differs sharply, you can apply for **independent third-party loss assessment** or file a complaint with the financial regulatory authorities - Beware of post-disaster "claims handling" intermediaries charging high commissions — claim settlement is a free, statutory service Table of contents - 1. Step One: Ensure Safety First, Then Talk About Losses - 2. The Evidence Chain: The Key to a Successful Claim - 3. Which Insurance Policies Cover Your Home? - 4. Government Relief and Rebuilding Subsidies - 5. Common Disputes and Pitfalls to Avoid Related Topics · Safety and Claims [What Should You Do When a Typhoon Approaches? A Household Typhoon Preparedness Guide](https://taifengshuo.com/en/knowledge/typhoon-defense)[What to Prepare Before a Typhoon: A Practical Typhoon-Proofing Checklist](https://taifengshuo.com/en/knowledge/typhoon-preparedness-checklist)[How to Protect Doors and Windows During a Typhoon: Does Applying Tape Actually Help?](https://taifengshuo.com/en/knowledge/typhoon-window-protection)[Where Is It Safest to Park a Car During a Typhoon? 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