Japanese messaging app company Line Corporation and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance have started a service enabling people to gift insurance products to acquaintances and others with the Line free messaging app on their smartphones.

For the first product under the service, Line and the nonlife insurer have developed an insurance policy that allows people to receive a payout of JPY10,000 ($90) in the event of an earthquake registering lower 6 or over on Japan's seismic intensity scale.

When people buy the insurance policy for JPY500, they will be able to give the product as a present via the app to acquaintances and relatives. The term of the insurance is one year, reported Jiji Press.

People who receive the product will decide whether to subscribe to the policy. If a policyholder's neighbourhood is hit by a strong quake measuring lower 6 or over on the Japanese scale, Line will send the policyholder a message about insurance claims within minutes of the jolt.