• New device will quickly detect botulinum, ricin, other biothreat agents

    Researchers are developing a medical instrument which will be able quickly to detect a suite of biothreat agents, including anthrax, ricin, botulinum, shiga, and SEB toxin. The device, once developed, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and commercialized, would most likely be used in emergency rooms in the event of a bioterrorism incident.

  • Americans support preparation for extreme weather, coastal challenges: survey

    The challenges posed by rising sea levels and increasingly severe storms will only intensify as more Americans build along the coasts. A just-released NOAA report predicts that already crowded U.S. coastlines will become home to an additional eleven million people by 2020. A Stanford survey finds that the majority of Americans support stronger coastal development codes. Among the most popular policy solutions: stronger building codes for new structures along the coast to minimize damage, and preventing new buildings from being built near the coast.

  • U.S. suffered $119 billion in disaster-related losses in 2012

    Natural and man-made disasters contributed to $186 billion in economic losses around the world last year. The United States took the biggest hit with $119 billion in losses. Insurance claims for weather-related losses in 2012 totaled $77 billion dollars, the third most expensive losses on record. Nine of the top ten most expensive insured loss events which occurred last year happened in the United States.

  • Flood insurance program needs better approach to analyzing flood risk

    In administering the National Flood Insurance Program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs a more modern approach to analyzing and managing flood risk behind levees — one that would give public officials and individual property owners a clearer idea of the risks they face and how they should address them. Because levees can reduce but not eliminate the risk of flooding, the agency should also encourage communities behind levees to use multiple methods to reduce risk and increase awareness of these risks.

  • The benefits of multi-state catastrophic risk pool

    A modeling platform from Kinetic Analysis Corp. enabled researchers to drill deeply into large volumes of storm-related data spanning nine states and 140 years. Study finds that multi-state catastrophic risk pools offer significant benefits in major tropical events.

  • Natural disasters have pushed Australia’s disaster insurance sky high

    As natural disasters and superstorms become more frequent in Australia, the insurance rates for people who live and work in vulnerable areas have skyrocketed to the point where people may have no choice but to go uninsured.

  • Insurance industry paying increasing attention to climate change-related risks

    The insurance industry, the world’s largest business with $4.6 trillion in revenues, is making larger efforts to manage climate change-related risks, according to a new study; weather- and climate-related insurance losses today average $50 billion a year; these losses have more than doubled each decade since the 1980s, adjusted for inflation

  • Turkey’s parliament authorizes military action against Syria

    Heavy Turkish artillery attacks against Syrian military targets continue for a second day, following a Wednesday’s mortar attack from inside Syria which killed five Turkish civilians; unconfirmed reports talk of a large number of Syrian military casualties; the Turkish government asked parliament for authorization to send ground units into Syria to create a buffer zone by establishing posts in strategic locations along the border, up to six miles deep inside Syria, in order to prevent similar attacks in the future; the Turkish parliament approved the request; the buffer zone, protected by the Turkish air force, will allow the anti-Assad rebels a protected areas from which to launch operations against the regime

  • Removing toxins from the environment

    A Florida State University chemist’s work could lead to big improvements in our ability to detect and eliminate specific toxic substances in our environment; the novel approach is based on stripping electrons from the toxic chemical known as fluoride; in addition to toxin removal, the approach has many other applications

  • July flooding in China causes $8.3 billion of economic losses

    Insurance industry faces agriculture losses from China to the United States in July 2012: flooding caused more than $8.3 billion in economic losses across China during July, while the worst drought in decades worsened across much of the United States; severe weather also prompted widespread damage in parts of the United States and Europe

  • Deadly Italy earthquakes result in $6 billion economic loss

    Two earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks struck northern Italy within a 9-day period, killing twenty-five people, injuring more than 400 others and causing extensive damage to the cultural heritage throughout the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, in addition to businesses and personal property; prolonged periods of rain affected China throughout the month of May, with at least 143,000 homes damaged or destroyed

  • ISO offers new standard for business continuity management

    Incidents take many forms ranging from large scale natural disasters and acts of terror to technology-related accidents and environmental incidents; the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published an international standard addressing business continuity management to contribute making organizations in both public and private sectors more resilient

  • Insuring against Olympic cancelation

    Starting on 27 July, the 2012 Olympic Games in London will see more than 10,000 athletes from nearly 200 different nations compete in 302 disciplines; nine million spectators are expected at the competition venues, while between three and four billion people will follow the spectacle on television; if the Games were called off as a result of terrorist act or another disaster, Munich Re would provide cover of around 350 million euros through several policies

  • U.S. severe weather insurance losses in April nearly $1 billion

    A series of severe weather events across central and southern sections of the United States caused upward of $1 billion in insured losses. Economic losses were even higher during the month of April

  • British state-backed reinsurer has £4.5 billion to cover Olympic Games terror-related losses

    Pool Re, the British state-backed reinsurer which covers commercial property losses from  terror attack-related activities, has £4.5 billion ($7.327 billion) of assets to cover the Summer Olympic Games. Pool Re said it had no plans to jack up premiums for the event. If the damage from bombings or other terror-related incidents were to cost more than that amount, the British taxpayer, under the Pool Re structure, would step in to cover the difference. Pool Re was set up in the 1990s when the U.K. government was worried that the terror campaign pursued by Irish militant groups could make London property uninsurable and damage the national economy.