April 2015

After a relatively quiet period in terms of large and damaging earthquakes, the recent event in Nepal is a stark reminder that earthquakes can—and do—occur with little or no warning, and are indiscriminate about who they affect.

AIR just hosted its first ever Interface developers conference in parallel with our annual Envision client conference. It was great to see such a tremendous response and turnout.

One of the places I mentioned when I blogged recently about wind engineering facilities that test buildings to destruction was the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center in South Carolina. Last summer, in conjunction with the American Modern Insurance Group, the center conducted a series of tests to evaluate the effect of high winds on structures attached to manufactured homes.

The primary determinants of a structure's flood vulnerability are its location, occupancy, construction, height, and age (which determines the building regulations its construction was subject to).

The domestic Chinese insurance market has been growing at an annualized rate of more than 20%, fueled by economic growth and booming car ownership, and is expected to continue expanding. 

I'm a Bostonian who has visited New Zealand often and noticed many similarities between Christchurch and my home town. There are definitely concerns about Boston's seismic risks.

AIR Envision 2015 at the Seaport Boston Hotel and World Trade Center is set to be our biggest and most successful client conference yet.