Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
RMS Estimates Repeat of 1906 San Francisco Quake Would Cause $50 Billion to $80 Billion in Insured Losses
Apr 19 2006 // Based on 2006 population and property exposures in the San Francisco Bay area, Risk Management Solutions, Newark, Calif., estimates there would be at least $260 billion in damages to residential and commercial exposures if...
Engineers Working, Stretching, Bending Toward Earthquake-Proof Building
Apr 19 2006 // Sometime in the not-so-distant future, newly constructed buildings will be able to withstand earthquakes of the magnitude that destroyed San Francisco one century ago, scientists say. Working with super-strong materials...
Commonwealth Insurance Signs with Eqecat for Catastrophe Management
Apr 18 2006 // EQECAT Inc., an extreme-risk modeling company, said that Commonwealth Insurance Co., a Canadian-based insurance provider, has signed a licensing agreement to use EQECAT’s WORLDCATenterprise platform and XML interface...
Study Calculates Impact of 1906 Bay Area Quake Today
Apr 18 2006 // If an earthquake like the one that devastated San Francisco, Calif., in 1906 struck today, the toll would be staggering: tens of thousands of buildings damaged and hundreds of people dead, according to a new study. The...
Sound Risk Management, Strong Investment Results Prove Positive for P/C Industry
Apr 18 2006 // U.S. property/casualty insurers managed to increase earnings and add to their capital base in 2005 despite record catastrophe losses, according to ISO and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). Sound...
Fireman’s Fund Sponsors Wildfire Seminar on San Francisco Earthquake Centennial
Apr 18 2006 // As the nation commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, one of the surviving companies from that disaster — Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., will be hosting a...
Private Firms Seize Profit Opportunities in Emergency Services
Apr 17 2006 // If government can’t do it, business will. Once the domain of government and charitable relief groups, hurricane response and preparedness are a booming billion-dollar business — from the self-heating food packets...
Bulletins Issued, Hotline Accepting Calls About Tenn. Tornados
Apr 17 2006 // Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Paula A. Flowers has announced that her department is ready to assist consumers and insurance companies as they work to rebuild the communities affected by last week’s...
Critics allege wind modelers following politics over science
Apr 17 2006 // Risk Management Solutions has defended its hurricane risk models in the face of consumer groups’ criticisms that the models are more political than they are scientific and that they are designed to justify insurance...
Editor’s Note: Close to home: 1906 revisited
Apr 17 2006 // April 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, a catastrophe that affected thousands of lives, caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and generated aftershocks in insurance...
Deadly storms hit Midwest again in new round of spring tornadoes
Apr 17 2006 // The new round of tornadoes hit the Midwest less than one month after a similar grouping of twisters, high winds and damage hit a five-state area on March 12. News Currents Another round of deadly storms hit the Midwest...
Closer Look: Olympics Coverage
Apr 17 2006 // While Italians sadly said farewell to the Torino 2006 XX Olympic Winter Games, held Feb. 10-26, insurers are happy the event came and went without a hitch. For the first time, the International Olympic Committee purchased...
Editor’s Note: Close to home: 1906 revisited
Apr 17 2006 // If an earthquake similar to that of the 1906 San Francisco quake were to hit a metropolitan area, today, the losses would be staggering. April 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, a...
Risk Management
Apr 17 2006 // Call for stepped-up regulation of third-parties providing hurricane rating and credit scoring data Risk Management Solutions has defended its hurricane risk models in the face of consumer groups’ criticisms that the...
10 Deadly storms hit Midwest again in new round of tornadoes
Apr 17 2006 // Claim counts include March and April storms N1 U.S. tort costs reach a record $260 billion, study reports Cost exceeds other countries’ by large margin N1 Private companies at increased risk of liability...
Spotlight: Special Events
Apr 17 2006 // The Olympic Games began and ended without incident but what if they had been cancelled? While Italians sadly said farewell to the Torino 2006 XX Olympic Winter Games, held Feb. 10-26, insurers are happy the event came and...
Spotlight: Special Events
Apr 17 2006 // The Olympic Games began and ended without incident but what if they had been cancelled? While Italians sadly said farewell to the Torino 2006 XX Olympic Winter Games, held Feb. 10-26, insurers are happy the event came and...
Judge rejects Allstate request to dismiss hurricane lawsuit
Apr 17 2006 // The company (Allstate) “is pleased that the judge ruled, ‘The exclusions found in the policy for water damage and for damages attributable to flooding are valid and enforceable policy provisions,'”...
Critics allege wind modelers influenced by insurers
Apr 17 2006 // News Currents Risk Management Solutions has defended its hurricane risk models in the face of consumer groups’ criticisms that the models are more political than they are scientific and are designed to justify...
Managing Disasters
Apr 17 2006 // Totally ready or just terrorism ready? Is the nation’s terrorism-centric focus hurting its efforts to plan for other disasters? Dr. James L. Valverde Jr., director of economics and risk management for the Insurance...
