AIR Worldwide updates European windstorm and earthquake models

Risk modeller AIR Worldwide has announced tha launch of updated versions of their European windstorm and European earthquake catastrophe risk models. The new versions of the models feature updates, include new data, cover new countries and AIR say provide “a consistent and comprehensive assessment of the extratropical cyclone and earthquake risk throughout Europe.”

“AIR Worldwide offers complete and robust extratropical cyclone and earthquake models for Europe,” said Dr. Jayanta Guin, SVP of research and modelling at AIR Worldwide. “With the expanded regions and enhancements to these models, insurers and reinsurers now have a unified view of risk across Europe. These updates represent the culmination of a multi-year investment in research and development at AIR, and innovation in modeling the two most significant perils for this region.”

The new European windstorm model, Version 13.0 of the AIR Extratropical Cyclone Model for Europe, see’s the inclusion of six new countries. The model now covers the financial impact of European windstorms on 18 countries across Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

“To provide companies with the ability to assess the risk from winter storms in all their manifestations, the AIR model combines a scientifically advanced view of the hazard with a sound approach to vulnerability assessment that recognizes and accounts for regional variations in building codes and construction practices,” said Dr. Guin. “These enhancements—combined with the 2011 expansion to include six additional countries—result in a comprehensive and detailed view of European wind risk.”

The newly updated European earthquake model includes a lot of new data with 24 new countries added. Version 13.0 of the AIR Earthquake Model for the Pan-European Region now allows the effects of shake damage to be assessed and quantified for 30 countries across Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Due to the expanded domain, the model will now be called the AIR Earthquake Model for the Pan-European Region.

“The new AIR Earthquake Model for the Pan-European Region captures the complex seismicity of Europe,” said Dr. Guin. “This model has been developed to meet the wide spectrum of earthquake risk management needs of the insurance industry and has been extensively validated using data from more than 60 historic earthquakes across Europe.”

Both models have also seen significant improvements which will make them significantly more useful to the catastrophe bond market. The breadth of coverage offered by AIR’s models is now comparable with, or in some cases better than, the models offered by other firms.