Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Earthquake in Southern Chile Causes Minor Damage; 4,000 Evacuated
Dec 27 2016 // A powerful earthquake shook southern Chile on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of deaths and only minor known damage. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake’s magnitude at 7.6 and said it struck at 11:22...
Israel’s ‘Facebook Law’ Targets Content ‘Liable to Incite’ Terrorism
Dec 27 2016 // Israeli courts could demand that companies such as Facebook Inc. remove content deemed as incitement, under a bill that that will head for parliamentary approval amid concerns about free speech. The law would give Israel...
West Regulation Report Card: California Most Politicized State
Dec 22 2016 // A report gives California’s insurance regulatory environment low marks for auto body repair rules, the insurance commissioner’s call for insurers to divest from coal, its prior approval law and being the...
New Alabama Storm Shelters to Open for Tornado Season
Dec 22 2016 // Officials in Birmingham, Ala., say three of five planned community storm shelters will be open before the spring tornado season. That’s nearly six years after the April 27, 2011 tornadoes that devastated parts of...
German Police Resume Hunt for Killer in Christmas Market Terrorist Attack
Dec 21 2016 // German investigators intensified their search for the perpetrator of a deadly truck assault on a Christmas market in Berlin after an initial suspect was released, deepening the fear and uncertainty over what Chancellor...
XL Catlin Launches Active Assailant, Terrorism Threat Coverage
Dec 21 2016 // XL Catlin’s has launched Active Assailant, Loss of Attraction and Threat (ALT) insurance coverage to respond to the impact of terrorism or an active assailant attack or the threat of an attack on the operations of...
Terrorism May Be Motive in Berlin Christmas Market Killings; RMS Comments
Dec 20 2016 // Investigators suspect the driver of a truck that plowed into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48, did so intentionally in a terrorist attack, police said on Tuesday. The truck crashed...
Vertus Insurance Launches Supplemental Catastrophe Insurance in Florida
Dec 20 2016 // Florida-Based managing general underwriter Vertus Insurance Partners has launched a supplemental insurance policy targeting homeowners in hurricane prone states. Available now in Florida, CAT4Home will provide complete...
Dolly Parton Telethon Raises $9M for Tennessee Wildfire Victims
Dec 20 2016 // Dolly Parton says a star-studded telethon for those affected by recent wildfires in her native Tennessee has brought in about $9 million. Parton headlined the event on Dec. 13 that was broadcast on several cable networks...
The California Earthquake Authority 20 Years Later
Dec 19 2016 // It was 20 years ago this month that insurers began selling California Earthquake Authority policies — two years off of a hard lesson learned by the state’s residents and its insurance market. But 20 years later...
Tennessee Wildfire Damage Estimated at $500M
Dec 15 2016 // Deadly wildfires caused more than $500 million in damage as they tore through a tourism community in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and killed 14 people, local officials estimated Tuesday. Sevier County Mayor...
Tennessee Gov Asks Obama to Expedite Disaster Declaration for Storms, Wildfires
Dec 14 2016 // Tennessee’s governor has sent a request to President Barack Obama to expedite a major disaster declaration for five of the state’s counties to aid in recovery from wildfires and severe storms. The counties...
Texas Hail Losses Set Record in 2016
Dec 14 2016 // In 2016, Texas suffered through another costly year of weather related losses for homeowners and autos. Looking only at loss information through the end of September, it has been a year of record losses for hailstorms. The...
Caribbean Cat Facility, CCRIF, Pays Nicaragua $1.1M for Hurricane Otto
Dec 14 2016 // CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) made a payout of US$1.1 million to the government of Nicaragua as a result of damages from Hurricane Otto. Damages triggered a CCRIF payment on the...
Top Florida Stories of 2016: The End of Florida’s Hurricane Drought
Dec 14 2016 // In September, Hurricane Hermine broke Florida’s hurricane drought that had lasted since 2005. The category 1 storm hit the Florida Panhandle, bringing significant storm surge to the Tampa Bay area before slowly...
Dolly Parton Organizing Telethon for Wildfire Victims in Tennessee
Dec 12 2016 // Country icon Dolly Parton has organized a musical telethon to raise money for victims of the Tennessee wildfires that destroyed more than 1,700 homes in the resort town of Gatlinburg. The event, which will air Dec. 13 on...
Tennessee Wildfires That Killed 14 Allegedly Started by 2 Juveniles
Dec 9 2016 // Authorities on Wednesday charged two juveniles in an East Tennessee wildfire that killed 14 people and destroyed or damaged more than 1,700 buildings in an iconic tourism spot at the foot of the Great Smoky...
CEA Using California Quakes as Opportunity to Spread the Word
Dec 8 2016 // In the way of a magnitude 6.5 earthquake off the Northern California coast at 6:45 a.m., a hundred miles west of Eureka, and then a few hours later a magnitude 5.0 in the same general area, the California Earthquake...
New Zealand Quake’s Insured Losses Estimated at $705M-$3.5B: Aon Cat Report
Dec 8 2016 // Insurance losses from last month’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake in New Zealand are likely to range between NZ$1.0 to 5.0 billion (US$705 million and US$3.5 billion), according to a report published by Impact Forecasting,...
Indonesia’s M6.5 Quake Kills Nearly 100 with Low Insurance Losses Expected: AIR
Dec 8 2016 // An M6.5 earthquake jolted the northernmost area of Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 7 at 5:03 a.m. local time, with nearly 100 fatalities and more than 600 injuries reported. The epicenter was 19 kilometers (11.8 miles)...
