Earthquakes are so rare in the Washington area that even a geology student wasn’t quite sure what was going on when a minor one hit early Friday. Was it a truck passing by? A low-flying plane? Gerasimos Michalitsianos, who will …
Installation is nearly complete on a network of earthquake-detecting instruments being placed across North Dakota as part of a national project, officials say. Fred Anderson, a geologist with the state Geological Survey in Bismarck, said about 30 seismometers have been …
Nobody wishes for a natural disaster, but there’s nothing like a big U.S. hurricane to revitalize shares in property and casualty insurers, currently weighed down by persistently weak insurance prices. Nine analysts polled by Reuters on average said the U.S. …
The Bermuda-based Argo Group International Holdings announced that it expects to report in its 2010 second quarter financial results “approximately $20 million to $25 million of estimated pre-tax loss provisions, net of reinsurance and reinstatement premium, related to spring storms …
Worcester, Mass.-based The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. has closed on an agreement with ICW Group that is designed to enhance The Hanover’s surety capabilities in the West, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Through the arrangement, The Hanover …
The early appearance of Hurricane Alex, which hit Mexico and the Gulf coast of the U.S., was, according to experts at Swiss Re, “a relatively unusual occurrence in June and could signal a very active hurricane season.” Insured losses, caused …
A report from Munich Re (www.munichre.com) notes that the first half of 2010 was “marked by an exceptionally large number of natural catastrophes and the scale of the losses they caused.” The reinsurer recorded 440 “events from January until the …
A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a+” of Lloyd’s of London and Lloyd’s Reinsurance Company (China) Limited. Best also affirmed the ICR of “a” of the Society of …
The Pacific Northwest is one of five regions in the world most likely to see a mega-earthquake, according to a new report. “When The Earth Moves: Mega-Earthquakes To Come?” published by Aon Benfield in conjunction with the Aon Benfield UCL …
All sixteen members of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF – www.ccrif.org) have renewed their policies for hurricane and earthquake coverage for the 2010/11 year beginning on June first, the start of the hurricane season. The National Oceanic and …
