Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tsunami Preparedness Week in Alaska
Mar 27 2013 // Gov. Sean Parnell declared this Tsunami Preparedness Week in Alaska. Parnell, in his proclamation, says Alaska’s vast coastline is home to many communities that are vulnerable to tsunamis. He says the state also...
Insurance Covered Half of U.S. Disaster Costs in 2012: Swiss Re
Mar 27 2013 // Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused $186 billion in economic losses globally in 2012 and took approximately 14,000 lives, according to global insurer Swiss Re’s latest sigma study. The United States...
Swiss Re Study for 2012 Losses: $77 Bn Insured; $186 Bn Economic
Mar 27 2013 // Swiss Re has released its latest sigma study, which found that economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters reached $186 billion in 2012. Insured losses amounted to $77 billion, making 2012 the third...
Burand’s Agency E&O Blog: Tip #27
Mar 27 2013 // Agency Catastrophe Plans. How to keep a catastrophe from becoming an even bigger catastrophe. I don’t know who said it, but they correctly concluded that the best E&O audit is a natural catastrophe because so...
Texas Windstorm Insurer Board: No Receivership at This Time
Mar 26 2013 // Numerous representatives from Texas coastal counties, cities and business organizations on March 25 spoke before the board of the state’s insurer of last resort urging them to oppose the proposal by state regulators...
Q&A: Congressional Politics and Prospects for Terrorism Insurance Renewal
Mar 26 2013 // The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which was initially enacted in 2002, and amended by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2005 and the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007...
Could Global Warming Change Tornado Season?
Mar 25 2013 // With the planet heating up, many scientists seem fairly certain some weather elements like hurricanes and droughts will worsen. But tornadoes have them stumped. As the traditional tornado season nears, scientists have been...
Turning Tornado Debris Into Better Storm Warnings
Mar 22 2013 // Photos and mementoes that were snatched up and blown hundreds of miles during tornados in the south of the United States two years ago are giving researchers new insight on how debris is carried by the storms and how it...
Oregon City Fears Isolation After Major Earthquake
Mar 21 2013 // Officials in Medford say an emerging state plan for recovering from a major earthquake would keep their region isolated from the rest of Oregon for a lengthy period because repair efforts to get traffic moving north-south...
With Rates Expected to Drop, Cat Fund Reform Should Be a No-Brainer
Mar 18 2013 // For four out of the last seven years, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund has been projected to have a shortfall should a major hurricane impact the state and cause the fund to pay out to its coverage limits. This is...
Report Makes Chilling Forecast On Northwest Quake
Mar 18 2013 // More than 10,000 people could die when – not if – a monster earthquake and tsunami occur just off the Pacific Northwest coast, researchers told Oregon legislators . Coastal towns would be inundated. Schools, buildings...
Fitch: P/C Insurer Profit Up in 2012; Reinsurers Recover
Mar 18 2013 // Property/casualty insurers’ operating profits improved in 2012, driven by reduced incurred losses from natural catastrophes and core loss ratio improvements from recent underwriting and pricing actions. Fitch...
Increase in Oklahoma Mobile Home Parks Ups Tornado Vulnerability
Mar 15 2013 // A new report from Lloyd’s of London found that a growing number of Oklahomans are becoming increasing vulnerable to tornadoes, according to the Oklahoma Insurance Department. The report, Tornadoes: A Rising Risk?,...
Hong Kong’s Peak Re Licenses AIR Worldwide Catastrophe Modeling Systems
Mar 14 2013 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced that Hong Kong-based Peak Reinsurance Co. Ltd., which focuses on the Asia-Pacific market, has selected AIR’s catastrophe modeling solutions to manage its catastrophe...
Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting Launches New Cat Scenario Models
Mar 14 2013 // Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, has launched a suite of new scenario models to generate loss estimates for specific historic or hypothetical events. The bulletin...
Utah Prepares For Another Busy Wildfire Season
Mar 12 2013 // The mountains still may be covered in snow, but officials already are preparing for another busy wildfire season in Utah amid growing concern over the cost to battle them. State officials told the Deseret News that the...
Japan’s Clean-Up from 2011 Tsunami, Nuclear Accident Lagging
Mar 11 2013 // Two years after the triple calamities of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster ravaged Japan’s northeastern Pacific coast, debris containing asbestos, lead, PCBs — and perhaps most worrying — radioactive waste...
Texas Windstorm Insurer Faces Tough Legislative Session
Mar 11 2013 // Texas’ property insurer of last resort in coastal counties may have a difficult time remaining intact during the 2013 legislative session. Claims from 2008’s Hurricane Ike still trickle in and ongoing...
Connecticut Proposes Mediation Program for Homeowners Claims Disputes
Mar 8 2013 // Connecticut’s insurance department is proposing a new program that would offer a mediation option to resolve claims disputes between homeowners and their insurance companies that arise from catastrophes, such as...
Arkansas to Monitor Earthquakes Near Greers Ferry
Mar 7 2013 // Earthquake experts intend to place more monitors near Greers Ferry Lake after a recent jump in the number of temblors in the area. While many of the 60 quakes in the past year were too light to be felt by people, the...
