What’s New: In Brief (December 14, 2009)

The Alberta Insurance Council will award two annual scholarships in insurance education at Grant MacEwan University and the University of Calgary.
Both schools offer programs to students planning a career in insurance and will determine the award recipients.
Both students will receive Cdn$2,000 to go towards their studies in their chosen insurance program.

Extreme weather conditions will continue to affect more people in the future, as half of the world’s population lives in coastal regions, according to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Floods affected 11 million people in 2009, compared to 178 million people in 2007 and 45 million in 2008.
Out of the 245 disasters in 2009, 224 were weather-related.
Weather-related disasters affected 55 million people, killing 7,000 and causing US$15 billion out of the total US$19 billion in economic damages caused by disasters, the agency said.
The figures cover between January and November 2009.