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h2g2Ben t1_j10qu8r wrote

Businesses would usually carry insurance for physical damage to the property they rent. So this would cover losses of the fixtures and physical things inside: chairs, tables, inventory.

You'd need separate insurance for what's called business interruption. It's not something most places buy for a lot of reasons. And even that wouldn't cover the cost of relocating, paying staff while they can't work, etc.

The damage to the building itself would fall under the insurance of the owners of the building, not the businesses renting. (Though the building is owned by two of the resident businesses.)

Basically, there are a lot of knock-on effects from an event like this. Some businesses need to relocate, some are just closed indefinitely. Even if some insurance is available for the owners of the businesses, it's rarely carried, and wouldn't protect the staff of those businesses.

(And I want to note that business interruption insurance usually has a very narrow scope, and doesn't include things like pandemics, which was the most recent time when the few folks who had business interruption insurance got royally screwed by insurance companies.

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