EQECAT shakes up its Canada quake model

EQECAT is launching an updated version of its Canada quake model in July.
The model, part of EQECAT’s WORLDCATenterprise platform, will feature the following key aspects:
• Consistent results across the U.S. border: the use of identical definitions for events affecting both countries expedites analysis of international portfolios.
• Perils covered: in addition to calculating losses from ground shaking, the model includes associated perils that can be included or excluded from analysis.
• Fire following earthquake: the physical mechanism of conflagration, ignition, spread and suppression is modelled.
• Sprinkler leakage: water damage to contents from sprinkler leakage can exceed shaking contents damage, and the model explicitly accounts for these types of losses.
• Hazard definition: the Canada hazard module integrates the latest fourth-generation hazard model update from the Geological Survey of Canada.
• Soil-based attenuation functions: EQECAT assumes the seismic waves propagate through soil, not rock (as in more conventional attenuation functions). This approach more closely represents the vast majority of insured exposures located on soil sites, and thus reduces model uncertainty.
• Time-dependent recurrence rates: incorporated for the Cascadia subduction zone, the rates portray risk within the foreseeable future, not just the theoretical “long-term” risk.