We Will Endure

We, the employee-owners of The National Underwriter Company offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to all those who suffered losses in this week's tragic terrorist attacks.

Words are not sufficient to convey the horror of what happened to the people in the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, as well as the passengers and crew in the four hijacked planes.

We here in the Hoboken office of National Underwriter experienced the tragedy viscerally, located as we are directly across the Hudson River from the Twin Towers. Many of us were eyewitnesses, watching the second hijacked plane crash deliberately into the WTC, as well as the collapse of each of the two towers.

Many of us had a special attachment to those mighty buildings. Some here commuted through the WTC every single day. Many of our contacts and friends, readers and advertisers in the insurance industry who worked in the complex might be lost in the ruins.

The memories of the events of this devastating day will never leave us.

But we will recover. And the insurance industry as well as the risk management community will play critical roles in this recovery.

Robert A. Rusbuldt, chief executive officer of the Independent Insurance Agents of America in Alexandria, Va., noted that “the entire industry will work together to help victims recover and to put their lives back in order. Insurance will play a huge role in the recovery of hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses affected in New York City and the hundreds of thousands of people impactednationally.”

Mr. Rusbuldt, who conceded sadly that “unfortunately, [insurance] policies cannot replace the tragic loss of life,” noted that IIAA and its New York affiliate will be establishing a fund “that will help victims and their families pull through these trying times.”

It will take quite some time before the loss of life and property can be calculated. But when losses do begin to be tallied, just about every type of insurance coverage will be triggered. Claims will total in the billions.

However, the greater challenge will be to make sure that a tragedy like this never happens again.

The risk management spotlight will undoubtedly be focused on the airline industry. It is incredible that four commercial airlines could be hijacked and cockpits seized in such a brief time frame. Risk managers will have to come up with a far more aggressive and effective program not only to prevent terrorists from smuggling any weapons onto a plane–perhaps with the help of airport or airline employees–but also from taking over a flight if they do happen to get past security.

We are not safety experts, but perhaps the time has come to have an armed federal marshal on every flight. Reports indicate that the terrorists were able to hijack the four planes armed only with knives and boxcutters. An armed and trained marshal might have been able to at least fend off a terrorist takeover of the cockpits. There still could have been loss of life, but far less than what occurred.

But this is for the professionals to decide. All we expect is that a speedy, effective safety plan be formulated and implemented to restore the nation's faith and sense of security.

In the meantime, the best way for each individual person to fight terrorism is to go on with their lives as best they can. Terrorism's goal is to disrupt society–to bring civilization to a halt. Don't allow the terrorists to succeed.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 17, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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