April 2017

While some studies have suggested that continued warming of the Earth’s surface will eventually lead to an increase in the proportion of strong tropical cyclones, considerable uncertainty in this result remains, and the impact of a clear overall warming trend on the insurance industry is also somewhat ambiguous.

Recovery from a major earthquake, or indeed any extreme event, is always a lengthy process, even for wealthy and developed countries. An earthquake fades from the headlines after a few weeks, but recovery in the impacted region can continue for years.

As (re)insurance companies accumulate more and more risks, the data contained in these portfolios continues to grow. Understanding how to make sense of it all is critical, and there is no shortage of metrics one can employ.

Before dawn on Saturday April 1, 2017, rain drenched the Andes Mountains in southwestern Colombia. In just a few hours, 130 mm fell—about a third of the region’s average for the whole of March.

Madagascar—one of the poorest countries on earth—was struck by its strongest tropical cyclone in 13 years on March 7, 2017. Enawo made landfall over the Sava Region in the northeast of the island just after reaching peak intensity as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Andrew, which made landfall in Miami-Dade County 25 years ago, damaged or destroyed thousands of homes.