Latest Catastrophe Headlines

All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.

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...

Closer Look: Louisiana Homeowners

Apr 17 2006 // However, insurer trade group says it can be found by those who shop After the wreckage caused by last year’s Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many home insurers in southern Louisiana are refusing to write new policies,...

Editor’s Note: Wind vs. water saga continues

Apr 17 2006 // It would seem prudent for homeowners along the nation’s hurricane-prone coasts to buy as much wind and flood insurance as they need before this year’s hurricane season starts. A federal judge in Gulfport,...

Critics allege hurricane risk modelers influenced by insurers

Apr 17 2006 // News Currents Risk Management Solutions, Newark, Calif., 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...

News Currents

Apr 17 2006 // Top meteorologist predicts 17 named storms will form in Atlantic Basin A well-known meteorologist is predicting that 17 named storms will form in the Atlantic Basin during the 2006 hurricane season, and the 2006 Atlantic...

Closer Look: Insurance Associations

Apr 17 2006 // Editor’s note: This is the second article in a series on Western insurance associations. Part I of this article appeared in the April 3, 2006, western region publication beginning on page 47. As people migrate to the...

Editor’s Note: If 1906 repeated itself in a major metropolitan space … during working hours … there would

Apr 17 2006 // $7 billion in workers’ compensation losses. Close to home: 1906 revisited April 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, a catastrophe that affected thousands of lives, caused...

Declining rates fuel stand-alone terrorism market

Apr 17 2006 // With the exception of a few notorious hotspots, rates for stand-alone terrorism insurance have dropped by 40 to 50 percent since 2002, according to Aon’s Crisis Management division. The reductions have been driven by...

News Currents

Apr 17 2006 // Insurers well-braced for next big California earthquake When the next big earthquake strikes California, it’s unlikely to hurt the insurance industry as much as the last one did. The nation’s largest property...

Summation of Insurance-Related Bills Speeding Through Fla. Legislature

Apr 14 2006 // With Spring meetings of the Florida Legislature coming to an end in Tallahassee in May, the Florida Insurance Council has summarized insurance-related bills now being considered in the House and Senate. Sam Miller,...

Reports Say California Not Earthquake Proof, on 1906 Quake’s Anniversary

Apr 13 2006 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services recently noted in two articles, “San Francisco’s Credit Rating Is Strong–But Not Earthquake Proof” and “One Hundred Years Later, California...

FEMA: ‘We Will be Prepared for 2006 Hurricanes’

Apr 13 2006 // The nation’s top emergency planner is promising that the government has learned from past mistakes and will be prepared for the upcoming 2006 hurricane season. R. David Paulison, acting director for the Federal...

Hurricane Expert: ‘The 2006 Season CAN Be Worse than 2005’

Apr 13 2006 // With more than 55 million people living in coastal communities, the nation must learn from the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons and prepare now for what could be a worse 2006 season than what happened in 2005, a leading...