Mr Sinha had called the emergency meeting of the top officials of his ministry and the chiefs of the Life Insurance Corporation, National Housing Bank and the Indian Bank Association to take stock of the preparation of these national institutions to meet the situation in the aftermath of the earthquake devastation.

Speaking to The Financial Express, LIC chairman GN Bajpai said that his institution has already despatched officials to the affected areas to initiate quick action and set up tents for providing shelter to the victims.

"In a day or two, we will be in a postion to give the financial assessment of the damage," Mr Bajpai said. According to Mr Bajpai, LIC Housing Finance, the housing subsidiary of the LIC is also gearing up to meet the situation.

"NHB is planning to route its funds meant for the assistance of earthquake victims through LIC Housing Finance," he said. Also, chiefs of the four public sector non-life insurance companies, New India Assurance, United India, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance are meeting in Ahmedabad on Monday to assess the damage from the earthquake and take emergency steps to settle claims arising out of the natural calamity. Top officials of the newly co-ordinated body of the four non-life companies Association of General Insurers (Public Sector)(Gipsa) will be actively involved in the assessment mission. "We are in constant touch with the government and are in a position to tackle the situation," assured a top Gipsa official, adding that top officials are keen to visit the entire devastated area.

The non-life insurance companies had experienced a similar situation in recent times during the Kandla storm, and had relaxed several guidelines to settle the claims quickly.

The non-life companies are expecting most of the claims from the small and middle-level industries, as the big industrial plants including Reliance Petroleum's Jamnagar and Hazira plants and Essar Steel's facility at Hazira and Jamanagar have escaped unscathed from the quake.

Earlier, Mr Bajpai had announced relaxation of procedures for quickly settling the claims of the deceased. The institution has relaxed the procedures for the production of the death certificates by the kith and kin of the deceased for settling policy claims. It has decided to accept the death certificate from any source, including that from its agents for the purpose of settling claims.

Normally, LIC accepts only those death certificates issued by the local muncipal authorities. The corporation also has also decided to waive the penal interest for the next three months, if the existing policy holder fails to pay the premium in time. The institution has also decided to issue a duplicate policy free-of-cost in cases where the document is lost.