catastrophes News

Ecuador to Raise Taxes, Sell Assets to Fund Multi-Billion Dollar Quake Rebuilding

Ecuador will temporarily increase some taxes, sell assets, and may issue new bonds on the international market to fund a multi-billion dollar reconstruction after a devastating 7.8 magnitude quake, a somber President Rafael Correa said on Wednesday [April 20]. The …

EU Contributes $15.8M to Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility

The European Commission has agreed to contribute €14 million ($15.8 million) so the governments of Central American countries and the Dominican Republic can access to “low cost, high quality catastrophe risk insurance.” The agreement will be executed by the World …

Ecuador Earthquake’s Death Toll Rises; AIR Worldwide Comments

World leaders from the Vatican to Washington offered support to Ecuador as casualties mounted following one of the strongest earthquakes to strike the South American country in decades. The number of dead has climbed to at least 350 from 272 …

Catastrophe Reinsurance Prices Will Continue to Drop This Year: Swiss Re

Reinsurance prices will continue to fall this year as competition for customers from hedge funds and other sources of alternative capital send premiums to their lowest in four years, according to Swiss Re AG. “Price reductions have slowed down but …

2015 Global Insured Losses Lowest Since 2009 Despite El Niño Effects: Carpenter

One of the strongest El Niño periods on record and a positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation were the climate drivers in 2015 that led to an exceptional season of Pacific tropical storms and severe windstorms and flooding in …

Samarco, BHP & Vale Agree to Pay $5B in Damages for Brazil Mining Disaster

Mining company Samarco and its owners, BHP Billiton and Vale SA , reached a deal with the Brazilian government on Wednesday to pay an estimated 20 billion reais ($5.1 billion) in damages over 15 years for a deadly dam spill …

Brazil & Samarco Close to Agreeing on Damages from Mining Disaster

Brazil’s government and Samarco Mineracao SA are meeting on Friday to finalize the settlement of a lawsuit for damages caused by a deadly dam spill at a mine in November, with the attorney general’s office saying the accord was 95 …

Swiss Re & Partners Unveil Initiative to Speed Economic Recovery After Cat Event

Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd. and Veolia have joined forces, under the auspices of The Rockefeller Foundation, to launch an infrastructure recovery initiative to speed up economic recovery in the aftermath of catastrophic events for cities across the globe. The …

Brazil Police Accuse Vale, Samarco of Environmental Crime for Mine Disaster

Brazil’s Federal Police accused Vale SA and its Brazilian joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd of environmental crime related to a November dam collapse that destroyed a city in the country’s southeast and sent waves of toxic mud downstream into …

Brazil Mine Disaster Shows Value (and Harm) of Public Relations Responses

Within hours of a deadly mining spill in November that would become Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie was in front of a camera offering his sympathies to those affected. Meanwhile, his counterpart at joint venture partner …