tsunami News

Pacific Coast Towns Rethink Tsunami ‘Vertical’ Evacuation Options

When the next devastating earthquake strikes off the Northwest coast, it is expected to send a tsunami so fast that it could leave coastal communities with perhaps 20 minutes to escape the surge of water. For small towns like Long …

AXIS Puts Q2 Cat Losses at $90-$105 Million; Updates Q1 Estimates

Bermuda-based AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has estimated that the total net financial impact of the June 2011 aftershock in New Zealand and the series of severe weather events that occurred in the U.S. in April and May 2011 are expected …

Tokyo Electric Power Facing $1.1 Billion in Mental Distress Claims

Tokyo Electric Power estimates it will have to pay 88 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in compensation for mental distress caused to people who were forced to leave their homes after the March quake and tsunami sparked a crisis at a …

FEMA Tallies Hawaii Damage from Japan Tsunami at $6.2 Million

Federal aid has been approved for those in Hawaii affected by tsunami waves from the March earthquake in Japan. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that so far the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved 14 claims for low-interest federal disaster loans …

FEMA Awards $1.2M Tsunami Grant to Oregon County

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced a disaster relief grant of nearly $1.2 million to Oregon’s Curry County to help repair and replace public infrastructure damaged by the tsunami waves from the Japanese earthquake. Gov. John Kitzhaber sought federal …

EQECAT Raises Japan Quake/Tsunami Loss Estimates to $22-$39 Billion

Catastrophe modeling firm EQECAT has updated its market loss estimate of $12-$25 billion, issued on March 16, for the March 11 M9 Tohoku Earthquake. EQECAT said that, based on the latest information available, it is “updating its estimate to $22-$39 …

Japan’s Edano: No limit on Tepco Nuclear Compensation Claims

Japan’s government will not put a cap on the liabilities faced by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) for damages stemming from its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Monday. Under Japanese law, the …

Asbestos: Japan Tsunami’s other Hidden Danger

Inside the chunks of slate and wallboard smashed and scattered by Japan’s tsunami hides a health risk that has been overshadowed by contamination from a leaking nuclear plant: the odorless and nearly invisible threat of asbestos. Activists have found the …

Japan to Launch Massive Search for Quake Victims Bodies

Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month’s earthquake and tsunami, the military said. Agriculture officials also …

Catlin Estimates Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Losses at $200 Million

The Bermuda-based Catlin Group Limited announced that its initial estimate of the financial impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated areas of northeast Japan, are expected to be around $200 million, based on total insured losses of …