Hawaii wildfires cause second highest losses to the insurance industry in the state

Lahaina from the sky

The total covered losses are still climbing on Maui island and will reach the state’s second highest. The total losses the insurance industry is on the hook for due to the Hawaii wildfires on Maui island are expected to reach the second highest in the history of the state, according to modeling cited by a recent Reuters report. The rapidly moving blaze began last week and has devastated the historic resort town of Lahaina. Lahaina has been particularly hard-hit by the blazes. A historic resort town today, it was once…

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AIR Worldwide Appoints Bill Churney Chief Operating Officer

insurance news

BOSTON, July 23, 2013 ─ Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) has appointed Bill Churney to the position of chief operating officer. Churney will have immediate responsibility for all product management, software product development, global business development, marketing, consulting, and client service activities. “We’re extremely pleased to welcome Bill Churney to the newly created position of COO to help lead AIR as we continue to experience rapid growth in the global market for catastrophe modeling and related risk management services,” said Ming Lee, CEO of AIR Worldwide. “Bill has been…

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Catastrophe insurance market recommendations made by RIMS

Insurance News on catastrophe insurance losses

A letter sent to the U.S. Treasury has made a number of natural cat coverage marketplace suggestions. The Risk Management Society (RIMS) has now issued a letter to the United States Treasury in order to share its recommendations regarding potential improvements to the way that the natural catastrophe insurance market operates throughout the country. The organization had been asked to submit this letter as an element of a study conducted by the FIO. The Federal Insurance Office (FIO), a part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is performing a…

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AIR Releases Comprehensive Japan Earthquake Model Update following Tohoku

Japan Earthquake Insurance 2011

BOSTON, July 1, 2013 – Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide today announced that it has updated its Earthquake Model for Japan to include insights gained from the Great Tohoku earthquake of March 2011, which yielded a vast amount of ground motion data, damage observations, and detailed claims data. As a result, the AIR model represents the industry’s first and currently only comprehensive view of seismic risk in Japan post-Tohoku. In addition to capturing the complex seismicity of Japan and the changes that took place as a result of the Tohoku…

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Scandinavia Hit Hard by Windstorm Dagmar

According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Windstorm Dagmar has moved across Russia north of St. Petersburg and begun to dissipate, its hurricane-force winds having caused power outages, tree- downings, and landslides and other disruption across northern Scandinavia on Christmas Day and the early hours of yesterday, December 27th. According to AIR, Windstorm Dagmar developed almost suddenly, the product of a large temperature contrast between cold air moving south from Greenland/Arctic Norway and warm air moving north from the Azores/Iberia. Its formation assisted by a rapid deepening of lows and…

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