Earthquakes News

Louisiana Commissioner: Don’t Raise Taxes on Reinsurers

Now that the hurricane season is well underway, Louisianans remember when Katrina came ashore, late in August 2005, with a storm surge that eventually flooded New Orleans and leveled many Gulf Coast towns, costing more than 1,500 lives and causing …

AIR Analyzes Strong Indonesian Quake

A major earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s main island of Java at 2:55 p.m. local time (07:55 UTC) on Wednesday. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) originally issued a preliminary magnitude estimate of 7.4 for the event, but has …

Multiple Earthquakes Shake Central Oklahoma in 24 Hours

At least 10 minor earthquakes have shaken central Oklahoma in the past 24 to 36 hours, the most recent occurring early in the morning on Aug. 28, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. This morning’st tremor measured a magnitude of …

Caribbean Agencies Create Partnership for Natural Disaster Management

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing a partnership to facilitate capacity building and to develop strategies for mitigating the physical and socio-economic impacts …

Major Storm Activity Could Bring Silver Lining of Price Hikes for Insurers

The first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season may end up skipping past the United States, leaving insurers to hope that the next ominous storm clouds will come ashore with a silver lining. Insurers can face billions of dollars in …

Strong Earthquake Jolts Tokyo Area

The second seismic event to hit Japan in two days occurred off the central coast of the Japanese island of Honshu at 5:15 a.m. local time (20:15 UTC on Monday). Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide said the US Geological …

Two Typhoons Slam into Eastern Asia; Powerful Earthquake Strikes Japan

Typhoon Morakot wreaked havoc in Taiwan over the weekend, making landfall late on Friday in Taiwan’s Hualien County with sustained winds of 148 km/h (92 mph). “As of Friday, Morakot had generated only 100 mm (4 in) of precipitation in …

New Earthquake Risk Models Likely To Reduce Insured Loss Estimates

Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has unveiled its next-generation models for North America earthquake risks, covering the United States and Alaska, Canada and Mexico. The new models are likely to lead to a reduction in U.S. earthquake insured loss …

Oregon Counties Plan for Aftermath of Disasters

The Department of Homeland Security has provided money to help south coast Oregon counties develop a plan for putting their communities back together following an earthquake or tsunami. Josh Bruce, projects coordinator with the Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience, says …

New Homeowners Earthquake Rating Plan Available

Wheaton, Ill.-based American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) has developed a new rating plan for adding earthquake coverage to policies based on standardized forms, manual rules, and rating information provided under the AAIS Homeowners Program. The new plan consists of …