Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Insurance Bureau of Canada Calls for ‘Heightened Cooperation’ on Quakes
Jan 8 2008 // Central Europe isn’t the only place in the world that faces earthquake threats (See related article). The Insurance Bureau of Canada has issued a call for the creation of an ongoing working group between the...
Swiss Re Places $294 Million French Windstorm Bonds
Jan 8 2008 // Swiss Re announced that it has successfully structured and placed €200 million ($294 million) of securities covering windstorm events in France. The deal forms part of a three-year reinsurance agreement between Swiss Re...
Texas Recieved No Complaints from 2007 Hurricane Claims
Jan 8 2008 // No complaints have been received by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) on how the insurance industry handled any of the estimated 5,000 auto, homeowner and commercial claims that resulted from Hurricane Humberto, the...
Stanard, Fox Partner With Insight Catastrophe Group
Jan 8 2008 // Insight Catastrophe Group, a specialty provider of property catastrophe risk management and underwriting services, announced a partnership with Jim Stanard and Rod Fox through their newly-formed organization, New Asset...
S&P: TRIPRA’s Passage Keeps U.S. Commercial Lines Outlook Stable
Jan 8 2008 // On Dec. 26, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (TRIPRA), thereby retaining the federal backstop for terrorism risk through Dec. 31, 2014. The...
Rules on Stronger Earthquake Codes for Ark. on Hold for Now
Jan 7 2008 // An Arkansas legislative committee has put off a review of the state’s building code after lawmakers questioned costs related to making structures withstand earthquakes that come once every 2,500 years. Firefighters...
Statistics Based on Atlantic Hurricane Activity Can Overestimate Risk
Jan 7 2008 // New research on the link between the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic basin and U.S. landfall activity suggests that using Atlantic basin hurricane activity as a proxy for landfall activity can lead to erroneous...
Nationwide Raises Earthquake Coverage Deductible in Ohio
Jan 4 2008 // Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. is raising the deductible on its earthquake coverage because of the risk of major losses from an earthquake. Columbus-based Nationwide is raising the deductible from 2 percent to 5 percent...
Guy Carpenter Publishes Reinsurance Review
Jan 3 2008 // Guy Carpenter greeted the new year with the publication of “Near Misses, Plentiful Reminders: Global Reinsurance Review January 2008,” which it describes as a “briefing on the major trends driving pricing...
New Mexico Residents Still Recovering from March 2007 Tornado
Jan 3 2008 // Jim and Iris Blevins still think of their modest tan house surrounded by trees as their real home, but nowadays they live in a fifth-wheel behind the house — one of hundreds of eastern New Mexico homes damaged by...
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Owners Sue Insurer for Earthquake Claim
Jan 3 2008 // The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii has sued one of its insurance carriers for denying a $20 million claim stemming from last year’s earthquakes. The hotel has been closed for repairs and...
Top Insurance Stories in 2007 in Southeast
Dec 31 2007 // High heat, changing winds put reputations on the line. 1. Florida’s gamble “It’s all about rates,” maintained Sam Miller, of the industry’s Florida Insurance Council. Florida lawmakers in...
Top Insurance Stories in 2007 in South Central
Dec 31 2007 // Weather, directly or indirectly, was a driving force in the insurance markets for the South Central states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas in 2007. With the exception of Arkansas, throughout the year the South...
Maryland County Pulls Plug on Earthquake Hotline
Dec 31 2007 // Maryland’s Howard County has pulled the plug on its earthquake hotline. County Fire Department Captain Ryan Miller says the county now has other ways for residents to report and receive information during a disaster....
Top Insurance Stories in 2007
Dec 31 2007 // The debate over climate change captured the world’s attention, including the insurance industry’s, in 2007, while major hurricanes spared the United States’ coastline. The soft market took hold of...
Top Insurance Stories in 2007 in the West
Dec 31 2007 // While 2007 was a surprisingly calm year for hurricanes, that doesn’t mean Mother Nature didn’t have a tantrum or two. In 2007, the West faced its share of disasters, with freezes, floods and fires making news...
Top Insurance Stories in 2007 in East
Dec 31 2007 // New leaders tackled old issues and the region battled fire and rain. 1. No day at the beach Insurance markets for coastal properties continued to challenge insurers, agents, policymakers and property owners, despite an...
Munich Re 2007 Nat Cat Report Warns of ‘Rising Trend’
Dec 28 2007 // Munich Re’s loss figures for 2007 from natural catastrophes concludes that “despite the general absence of extreme events, overall economic losses had reached $75 billion by the end of December – an...
New Tools Can Help Underwrite, Price Winter Storm and Fire Risk
Dec 28 2007 // While winter storms do not attract the attention of mega-catastrophes such as hurricanes and earthquakes, these smaller events can add up to impact insurers’ bottom lines. However, insurers can now avail themselves...
President Signs TRIA Extension
Dec 27 2007 // With only five days left before the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2007, President George Bush signed into law legislation that reauthorizes the federal backstop for seven years. Some key...
