Earthquakes News

Willis Research Network Teams to Study Quakes with Italy’s EUCENTRE

The Willis Research Network (WRN), part of Willis Group Holdings Limited, announced that the EUCENTRE in Pavia has joined its network to enhance the quality of the earthquake research and modeling it offers to the international re-insurance industry. Willis described …

AIR’s Initial Analysis of Japanese Quake

Boston-based AIR Worldwide has issued a bulletin on the earthquake that struck northern Japan on Saturday, June 14 (See IJ web site – https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2008/06/16/91005.htm). The quake struck in a sparsely populated region, about 390 kilometers (243 miles) north of Tokyo. …

China Floods Kill 55; Over 1 Million Flee Homes; More Rain Forecast

State media reported that 55 people have been killed and seven are missing in flooding across a broad stretch of southern China. A Sunday, June 15, report by the official Xinhua News Agency says more than 1 million people have …

Good Time to Lock in Property Insurance Pricing, Advise Brokers

Science and technology are converging with risk management to help insurers negotiate the current hurricane season such that it’s now possible to use short-term hurricane forecasts — as few as 10 days out — to design coverage targeting a specific …

Rescuers Battle Devastation, Aftershocks from 7.2 Japan Quake

Soldiers fighting through a torrent of mud and rocks dug out three bodies at a hot spring Sunday, bringing the death toll from a magnitude 7.2-earthquake that hit the mountains of northern Japan to at least nine, with more than …

Swiss Re Study Analyzes Rising Disaster Costs; Role of Risk Transfers

A new study from Swiss Re examines the rising impact of natural disasters, which is “driving up the cost of disaster relief and reconstruction for the public sector, especially in developing countries where insurance penetration is still low.” The report …

Ratings: Wiener Staedtische, AXA (Canada), Max Capital, Tryggingamidstödin, Aveta, Ansvar, Norwegian Hull

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has affirmed its ‘A-‘ junior subordinated long-term debt rating on the €250 million ($387 million) undated, subordinated notes issued by Austria-based Wiener Staedtische Versicherung AG Vienna Insurance Group (WSV AG; A+/Positive/–), following receipt of final …

Aftershock Rocks China Quake Lake, But no Evacuations Ordered

Chinese soldiers used anti-tank weapons to blast away rocks and mud holding back waters in an earthquake-formed lake that threatens more than 1 million people living downstream. Television and official Web sites showed People’s Liberation Army troops firing 82-millimeter recoilless …

RMS, AIR Analyze Greek Quake

Risk Management Solutions and AIR Worldwide have both issued bulletins analyzing the effects of a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Western Greece at 03:26 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 8. RMS said that according to “preliminary reports from the …

Earthquake Swarm Picks up Again in Reno

A three-month-long series of earthquakes picked up again Sunday, June 8, 2008, as a string of minor temblors rattled Reno, Nev., causing downtown highrises to sway and knocking items off shelves. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major …