The private insurance industry won’t take as much of an impact from Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster as it did for Hurricane Katrina nearly six years ago, even though this recent natural disaster is expected to be much costlier. According to a report from MSNBC, the reason it won’t be as bad for the insurance sector is because Japanese homeowners and businesses depend largely on government-based insurance for these types of natural disasters.

Statistics from the Reinsurance Association of America show that only 14 to 17 percent of Japanese homeowners carry private earthquake insurance. In Japan there is also a cap on the total claims paid out during a disaster. If claims surpass $60 billion, homeowners only receive partial coverage for their losses.

Some are estimating the losses from the natural disasters to top $180 billion, others say even more. Hurricane Katrina once held the top spot for costliest disaster, coming in at $125 billion. Experts are still trying to estimate Japan’s damage. “It’s still early in the aftermath; we have been running hundreds of computer simulations taking all the geophysical data and simulating the ground motion and estimating damage based on this simulation,” Jayanta Guin, head of research and modeling for AIR told MSNBC. “We’re working through the details to see if we can refine it.”

What’s still unknown is what kind of impact the nuclear plant will have on the area. But due to the Japanese Nuclear Act of 1961, the plan operators won’t be responsible for any of the costs. “Those disasters are typically excluded from property and casualty policies,” he said. MSNBC says it’s likely that people worldwide could feel the impacts of these disasters in the form of higher insurance premiums to make up for what will likely be the most expensive event in history.