JUST one-third of Turkish households have earthquake insurance (DASK) it has emerged.

Although having earthquake insurance in Turkey is now required by law, only 6.3 million of the country’s 17.6 million homes are insured, according to the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (DASK).

A recent 6.5 earthquake that struck Greece and western Turkey, saw cellular phone service was unavailable in parts of Turkey for more than half an hour, raising concerns about the reliability of the country’s network.

Starting in August 2012, the government required homeowners to secure an earthquake insurance policy prior to setting up their utilities accounts.

DASK said at the time that it had hoped the regulation would boost earthquake insurance policy holders from 3.8 million to 10 million in five years.

DASK figures reported 435 earthquakes occurred in Turkey between 2000 and 2014, resulting in 157TL million in insurance payouts. Of this, TL 127.6 million in payouts followed a 2011 earthquake in the eastern province of Van, which resulted in 601 fatalities.

Various major fault lines crisscross Turkey, making the country particularly vulnerable to earthquakes.