quake

Catastrophe models have been called out as failing to account for so-called “supershear” earthquake events, with specialist Lloyd’s re/insurer MS Amlin stating that models “are failing to factor in a little-known class of earthquake despite it being linked to two thirds of industry losses from seismic events in the last decade.”

The recent devastating earthquakes in Turkey are estimated as likely to cause an insurance and reinsurance market loss of around US $2.4 billion by catastrophe risk modeller Karen Clark & Company.

Verisk Extreme Event Solutions, formerly AIR Worldwide, has estimated that economic losses from the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey will reach above US $20 billion, while the insurance and reinsurance industry faces a bill of above US $1 billion.

Insurance industry losses from the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria earlier this week are anticipated to fall around the US $1 billion mark, with reinsurance capital set to bear the majority, Fitch Ratings believes.

Catastrophe bond, insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance investment manager Twelve Capital has said that its exposure to the earthquakes in Turkey through private ILS contracts appears “very limited”, with no impact expected to its products.

The devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck southern Turkey this morning is unlikely to have a noticeable effect on the performance of catastrophe bonds, given Turkish quake risk is only a minor component of some retrocessional deals, Plenum Investments has said.

Significant fatalities and damage have been reported after Southern Turkey was struck by a major Magnitude 7.8 earthquake this morning close to Gaziantep, near the Syrian border. The US Geological Survey (USGS) gives a 78% chance that the economic impact will reach above US $1 billion.

A repeat of the 1923 Kanto earthquake in the Tokyo region of Japan could result in property losses of as high as $1.5 trillion, while a higher magnitude quake could cost the country as much as $3 trillion, catastrophe modellers Karen Clark & Company believes.

Insurance firms that underwrite earthquake insurance in Japan are facing almost $1 billion of claims from this years Osaka and Hokkaido earthquakes, according to the latest data from the local insurance association.

Insurance claims paid following the shallow magnitude 5.3 earthquake that struck the Osaka prefecture area of Japan in June 2018 now total almost $770 million (JPY 86.6bn), according to the countries insurance association.