50 Flooding 'Hot Spots' in Latest Swiss Re iPad App

Zurich-based Swiss Re continued its focuses on how demographic and climate changes increase loss risk with the release today of a report and companion iPad app on the impact of increased flooding.

The report includes these flooding factoids:

• Floods affect 500 million people worldwide per year

• Insured flood losses were $15 billion last year

• In Thailand, insured losses due to flooding were 1800% of the company's total insured premium

In addition to displaying this and other Swiss Re flood-related content, including information on risks and insurability, the iPad app includes flooding "hot spot" maps of 50 major metropolitan areas worldwide.

"The existence of such hot spots has increased the emphasis on risk modelling and underwriting tools," says Jens Mehlhorn, Head of Flood at Swiss Re and the "Flood – an underestimated risk" report's key author. "It is crucial to get the information necessary to know where risk clusters have developed and how significant a flood event would be in those areas."

Matthias Weber, Swiss Re Group Chief Underwriting Officer, adds that the goal of the initiative is to raise awareness of flooding risk and the role of insurance in addressing it.

"We show what it takes to tackle the challenges in flood insurance and how successful solutions might look for homeowners and companies," he says. "Knowledge-driven companies like Swiss Re need to embrace new channels for communicating their expertise. The flood app allows us to reach out to a broad audience in an entertaining and interactive way."

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Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio