MEXICO CITY – One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Mexico struck off the country’s southern coast, toppling hundreds of buildings, triggering tsunami evacuations and sending panicked people fleeing into the streets in the middle of the night.…
As the Bank of Canada announced Wednesday its second rate hike in less than two months, an analyst with A.M. Best Company Inc. suggested to industry professionals that a 2.1-point increase in the industry-wide operating ratio in the Canadian property…
After a shaky start, earthquake is steadily gaining profile among stakeholders from governments to policyholders about the risk and the importance of having plans in place. Nowhere in Canada is awareness higher than on the west coast of British Columbia, which abuts the ring of fire. But even there, a shift in thinking is under way as to what areas could produce the largest insured losses should a quake occur.
What has been described as the first free and neutral open online catastrophe modelling course was launched today to help those working in climate change and disaster loss mitigation, academia and insurance better understand the use of models in nat-Cat…
The magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck central Italy exactly one year ago is estimated to have cost 108 million euros, PERILS AG has reported. PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, disclosed its final loss estimate for…
Toronto-based Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) announced that they have entered into an agreement whereby Impact Forecasting’s cat event response flood footprints for Canada will be made available as a layer on CatIQ’s CatHUB module. “Aon Impact Forecasting’s Canadian…
Changing climate patterns are putting additional strain on both power generation and transmission, and presenting another risk factor for natural disaster mitigation and recovery in North America’s Pacific Northwest region, suggests a new study from Swiss Re and the Johns…
TOKYO – An underwater robot captured images of solidified lava-like rocks Friday inside a damaged reactor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, spotting for the first time what is believed to be nuclear fuel that melted six years ago. Plant…
KOS, Greece – A powerful earthquake shook the Greek island of Kos early Friday morning, damaging several buildings and the main port, killing at least two people and causing more than 120 injuries, authorities said. The 6.5-magnitude quake rattled Turkey’s…
Risk awareness is severely lacking and not enough attention is being paid to quake risk in eastern Canada, a region with “huge” loss-inflicting potential that a Swiss Re model projects could produce the country’s largest nat-Cat loss ever if the…
New Zealand will continue to flesh out the details of proposed changes aimed at simplifying and improving the Earthquake Commission (EQC) scheme to help support more timely response to affected policyholders. Reforms to the Earthquake Commission Act seek to “simplify…
The two cyclones that pounded New Zealand in April have spurred insured costs of NZ$84 million to date, setting the stage for what could become one of the most damaging year in recent years and leading to wrong-headed government actions…