Insured losses from the magnitude 8.8 quake that struck off the coast of Chile on Feb. 27 are likely to be over $3 billion.

EQECAT, based in Oakland, Calif., said in that insurers should expect to pay from $3 billion to $8 billion in losses.

AIR Worldwide Corp., a Boston-based catastrophe modeling company, said that it expects insured losses to exceed $2 billion.

The insurance claim will be amounting around 25% of the economic losses, which EQECAT says are expected to range from $15 billion to $30 billion.

The earthquake in Chile that has claimed at least 723 lives and caused widespread damage will leave insurers with claims of as much as $8 billion, catastrophe modeling company EQECAT Inc. projects.

EQECAT said the range of potential insured losses is wide because the estimate is not yet supported by information from the scene of the quake, and there remains uncertainty as to the extent of infrastructure damage. Business interruption costs will depend on the speed at which transportation and utility networks are restored, EQECAT said.