ProtectingAmerica.org, an organization working to createfinancial recovery systems for catastrophes, said it has formed anaffiliate to focus on efforts in California.

The formation of the affiliate, ProtectingCalifornia.org, wasannounced by James Lee Witt, former Clinton administration FEMAdirector and co-chair of ProtectingAmerica.org, and Admiral JamesM. Loy, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of HomelandSecurity.

Monday's announcement said Admiral Loy has been named a nationalco-chair of ProtectingAmerica.org.

ProtectingCalifornia.org said it will serve as a coalitionfocused on improving financial recovery systems to provide recoveryand rebuilding funds in case of a major catastrophe; supportefforts to improve building codes; augment homeowner educationprograms; and strengthen first responders by enhancing existingemergency response protocols.

The organization noted that its founding follows a CatastropheSummit held outside San Francisco by California, New York, Illinoisand Florida insurance regulators, who have proposed a three-layeredfederal catastrophe fund for homeowners insurance involvinginsurers, state catastrophe funds and a federal backstop.

"Our financial recovery mechanisms, which rely primarily on theprivate insurance market, federal assistance in the form oflow-interest loans and a small handful of state catastrophe funds,need to be re-tooled so that they are capable of meeting theimmeasurable costs of a true catastrophe," Admiral Loy said.

Mr. Witt and Admiral Loy were in San Francisco and Los Angeles,two California cities prone to disastrous earthquake, to make theannouncement.

"ProtectingCalifornia.org and its national counterpartProtectingAmerica.org will be working to help improve preparedness,mitigate potential damage and forge solutions that will help savelives and make sure that adequate financial resources are availableto better recover from the destruction of earthquakes, hurricanesor other natural catastrophes," Mr. Witt said.

According to the group, experts have warned that a largeearthquake on the Puente Hills fault under Los Angeles could kill18,000 people and cause $250 billion in property damage, whichwould be significantly larger than the 1994 NorthridgeEarthquake.

Additionally, they noted estimates that if the 1906 SanFrancisco Earthquake occurred today, it would cause economicdamages of $400 billion.

Specifically, the groups said they would like to better preparefor a catastrophic incident by raising awareness of the riskinvolved, establishing a financial backstop with special"catastrophe funds" at the state and federal level, increasingconsumer education, reviewing prior catastrophe relief efforts, andmitigating the risk through stronger building codes.