Latest Catastrophe Headlines

Earthquake Victims Call for Quackenbush Impeachment

May 5 2000 // Victims of the 1994 Northridge earthquake have joined the fray over state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush’s alleged misuse of his position, calling for his impeachment. At a new conference Thursday, people...

Earthquake Foundation Shaken by Calif. Legislators

May 4 2000 // A state Senate panel voted Wednesday to bar California’s insurance commissioner from ever again allowing insurance companies to avoid fines by contributing to nonprofit foundations. The Senate Insurance Committee...

Legislator Calls for Calif. Earthquake Fund Freeze

May 3 2000 // A California legislator is calling for a freeze on the remaining funds in an earthquake foundation established by California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. Assemblyman Jack Scott announced his intent to...

Insurers to Pay $1.71 Billion in First-Quarter Property Damage

Apr 13 2000 // U.S. property and casualty insurers will pay $1.71 billion to homeowners and businesses for insured property losses from seven catastrophic events in the first quarter of this year, according to initial estimates from...

Apr 10 2000 // I tried my mother’s phone dozens of times during the hours following the Fort Worth tornadoes. The cryptic message I had gotten from her assured me she was okay, but I wasn’t sure about her house and car. Still...

Australia Juggles Mergers & Disasters

Apr 3 2000 // Driven in part by 1999’s particularly poor results, and perhaps encouraged by the recent mega-merger announcements from Europe (CGU-Norwich Union and Deutsche Bank-Dresdner Bank), Australia’s insurance/...

S&P Rates Earthquake Notes

Apr 3 2000 // An issue of floating-rate notes, the payouts for which are linked to an index of California earthquakes, was assigned a “BB” rating by S&P. The annual probability that monies in the collateral account...

Philippine Volcano Erupts

Feb 25 2000 // Mayon volcano, located in the central Philippines about 190 miles southeast of Manila, erupted Thursday, sending molten rivers of lava down its slopes and darkened skies by sending ash six miles into the atmosphere. It...

RMS Indicates Sorema Cat Bond Won’t Be Hit

Feb 15 2000 // Risk Management Solutions (RMS) announced that, based on its loss modeling analyses, it does not expect Windstorms Lothar and Martin to be termination events to the catastrophe bond issued by Halyard Re SPV on behalf of...

Moderate Earthquake Shakes Japan

Feb 11 2000 // Japan’s main island was shaken by a pair of moderate earthquakes Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, AP reported. The first quake struck at 4:14 p.m. and was centered about in Iwate...

DCR Comments on Insurance-Linked Securitization

Feb 8 2000 // The market for insurance-linked securitizations continued to grow in 1999. The growth was at a pace slower than anticipated according to Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. DCR rated six transactions in 1999, totaling...