Romania is highly exposed to seismic risk, with significant implications for residential earthquake insurance and risk-transfer mechanisms, due to the Vrancea intermediate-depth seismic source and a vulnerable building stock. This paper presents a harmonised seismic exposure model for the Romanian residential sector, developed to support probabilistic seismic risk assessment and catastrophe modelling for (re)insurance applications. The model integrates official data from the 2021 Population and Housing Census with the nationally adopted RTC-10 structural typology, height classification, seismic code level, and standardised reconstruction cost indicators. The results indicate that nearly 70% of residential dwellings were constructed before 1990 under pre-code or low- to moderate-code seismic design provisions. Although individual houses dominate the dwelling stock, multi-family apartment buildings concentrate approximately 40% of the total residential replacement cost, particularly in urban areas. The total replacement cost of the residential building stock is estimated at approximately EUR 709 billion, exceeding values derived from global exposure models. Comparison with existing insurance coverage highlights a substantial protection gap between potential seismic losses and insured values. The proposed exposure model provides a transparent, nationally calibrated basis for seismic loss estimation, portfolio accumulation analysis, and evidence-based risk management in both engineering and (re)insurance contexts.
Gheorghe et al. (2026) studied this question.