IAG selects AIR’s new earthquake model

Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide announced that Insurance Australia Group (IAG), the largest general insurance company in Australia and New Zealand, has licensed its new Earthquake Model for New Zealand to help manage its catastrophe risk.

“This model has been developed to help meet the wide spectrum of earthquake risk management needs of the insurance industry. This includes the capability to use two seismicity models for the region. One is a time-independent model (TID) with no memory of past rupture history; the other is a time-dependent (TD) model that considers historical or prehistorical ruptures of specific seismic sources. Also captured in the model are the effects from subperils, including ground shaking, liquefaction, landslide, transocean basin tsunami, and fire following earthquakes.” – Dr. Milan Simic, executive vice president and head of global business development for Verisk Insurance.

“AIR provides a scientifically credible view of risk, and we welcome their sophisticated earthquake model for New Zealand. As the largest insurer in New Zealand, we pride ourselves on being able to differentiate between risks based on their location, building type, occupancy, age, and other parameters that drive vulnerability, as this allows us to manage our risk as well as provide the mechanisms to encourage mitigation in the community. At the same time, having access to independent models such as AIR’s is of key importance to both our internal stakeholders and external partners.” – Dr. Philip Conway, peril pricing manager at IAG.