Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
TS Richard Set to Become Hurricane; Hit Yucatan
Oct 22 2010 // Tropical Storm Richard headed toward Central America Friday, triggering a hurricane watch along the Honduras-Nicaragua border, a region already hit by months of heavy rains. The 17th named storm in the Atlantic so far this...
Record 7.7M Expected to Participate in Calif. Earthquake Drill
Oct 21 2010 // More than 7.7 million people are expected to shake, drop, cover and hold on in the country’s largest earthquake drill in history. The Great California ShakeOut is an earthquake drill in which participants practice...
Southern China Braces for Super Typhoon Megi
Oct 21 2010 // Residents scrambled to stockpile food and authorities ordered ships to remain docked as southern China geared up Wednesday for a super typhoon after it killed 15 people and wiped out crops in the northern...
Home, Flood Insurance Markets Still Troubled 5 Years After Katrina
Oct 20 2010 // Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, neither the federal government nor the private sector is any closer to developing effective solutions to the problems facing flood and windstorm insurance,...
AIR Estimates Philippines Typhoon Insured Losses under $150 Million
Oct 19 2010 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses to onshore properties in the Philippines from Super Typhoon Megi will likely be less than 6.5 billion Philippine pesos ($150 million. AIR said its...
Aon Sees Catastrophes, Consolidation, Regulation in Asian Re Market
Oct 19 2010 // Aon Benfield launched a market update for the key Asia Pacific reinsurance hubs of Australia/New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and China at the recently concluded East Asian Insurance Congress (EAIC) in Bali. The announcement...
Ye Joins Aon Benfield China Team
Oct 18 2010 // Aon Benfield announced that it has appointed Helen Ye as executive director and head of catastrophe reinsurance in China. She will be responsible for “developing catastrophe reinsurance business by advising clients...
California’s Commissioner Hopefuls
Oct 18 2010 // Unlike many voters, the hundreds and thousands of independent insurance agents and brokers in California know the November 2 election will be a pivotal one. After all, on that day, Californians will select a new insurance...
Havana Takes a Hit as Tropical Storm Paula Passes
Oct 15 2010 // Tropical Storm Paula weakened further Thursday, but still packed enough punch to blast through the Cuban capital with driving rains and high winds that toppled trees, flooded streets and left large swaths of the city...
Recent Oklahoma Earthquake Among Strongest in State
Oct 15 2010 // One of the strongest earthquakes recorded in Oklahoma rattled parts of five states on October 13 and left two people with minor injuries. The earthquake struck at 9:06 a.m. about six miles east of Norman in Cleveland...
Earthquake Rattles Parts of Oklahoma
Oct 14 2010 // An earthquake has rattled parts of central Oklahoma and was felt as far away as southern Kansas. There are no reports of damage or injury. Geophysicist Don Blakeman with the National Earthquake Information Center said the...
Mexican Coast, Cancun on Alert for Hurricane Paula
Oct 13 2010 // Hurricane Paula, the ninth hurricane of the busy 2010 Atlantic season, churned toward the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula Tuesday, putting the tourist hub of Cancun on high alert. A hurricane warning was in...
Hurricane Paula Spares Mexico’s Coast, Heads for Cuba
Oct 13 2010 // Category 2 Hurricane Paula passed 60 miles east of the resort town of Cancun, Mexico this morning, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, according to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. With hurricane force...
Hurricane Paula Heads for Mexico’s Tourist Coast
Oct 12 2010 // Hurricane Paula, the ninth hurricane of the busy 2010 Atlantic season, churned toward the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula Tuesday, putting the tourist hub of Cancun on high alert. A hurricane warning was in...
Florida Prepares for Potentially Severe Wildfire Season
Oct 8 2010 // Dry conditions in at least some parts of the state coupled with a long-range forecast calling for a significant drying cycle threaten a potentially severe wildfire season, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services...
U.S. Avoids Major Landfall So Far in Active Hurricane Season
Oct 7 2010 // The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season has been very active in the number of storms but is likely to go down as a non-event for most people in the United States, which has so far dodged a major landfall, the top official U.S....
RMS Reviews 2010 Hurricane Season to Date
Oct 6 2010 // Risk Management Solutions reports that as of October 5, 2010, there are “exactly eight weeks left until the end of the official hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. To date, 14 named storms have...
Swiss Re Structures $138.6 Million Cat Bond for Groupama
Oct 6 2010 // Swiss Re’s Capital Markets unit announced that it has ‘successfully structured and placed €100 million [$138.6 million] of securities issued by Green Valley Ltd.,” covering windstorm events in...
US State Dept. Warns Americans to be Vigilant When in Europe
Oct 5 2010 // The Obama administration on Sunday warned Americans of potential terrorist threats in Europe and urged them to be vigilant in public places, including tourist spots and transportation hubs. A State Department travel alert...
Nevada To Expand Earthquake Lab
Oct 5 2010 // A new $12.2 million federal grant will allow the University of Nevada, Reno, to more than double the size of its earthquake research center, making it the largest quake simulation facility in the country, school officials...
