Earthquakes, Karpaz, and the Offshore Islets:

How Geography Teaches Risk

At the very tip of the Karpaz Peninsula, small offshore islets appear scattered across the sea. On a map, they look like minor details. In geological terms, they are anything but. These islets are records. They are physical evidence of how this land has moved, fractured, and reshaped itself over time.

Cyprus sits at the intersection of three major tectonic forces. The African Plate pushes northward beneath the island. The Anatolian Plate escapes westward. The Eurasian Plate provides the upper boundary. The result is not a stable block of land, but a constantly stressed system shaped by pressure, bending, and faulting.

Karpaz is one of the most sensitive extensions of this system. Its long, narrow form reaching into the sea is not accidental. In geology, elongated peninsulas often mark zones where tectonic forces express themselves most clearly. The offshore islets at the tip of Karpaz exist because of this tension.

Some of these islets were once part of the mainland, separated during major seismic events when fault lines shifted and the sea filled the gap. Others are the peaks of folded rock layers that rose upward as the crust compressed, later isolated as sea levels changed over thousands of years.

Together, they tell a simple but powerful story:

This land is not static.
It only moves slowly.

In Karpaz, earthquakes are not a theoretical possibility. They are a structural reality written into the coastline itself. Risk here is not a matter of chance, but of history.

This is where insurance stops being abstract.

At CAN Sigorta, risk is not assessed solely through generic tables or distant models. It is read through geography. Insurance in Karpaz cannot be approached the same way as insurance in central Nicosia. Coastal exposure, ground conditions, building age, and the geological past of the area all matter.

For this reason, earthquake coverage is not treated as an optional add-on. It is evaluated as part of the regional reality. Standard, one-size-fits-all policies fail in places where the land itself behaves differently.

The offshore islets of Karpaz offer a clear lesson:
Risk does not appear suddenly.
It accumulates quietly over time.

CAN Sigorta’s approach reflects this understanding. Insurance is not only about responding after damage occurs. It is about identifying risk correctly before it materializes.

In a geography shaped by movement, safety belongs to those who can read the map.

CAN Sigorta is not only an insurance provider in Cyprus.
It is an insurance mind that lives within the geography it protects.