Risk Management Solutions, the Newark, Calif.-based catastrophe modeler, said today it is releasing new versions of modeling systems for earthquake damage in Japan and U.S. terrorism and workers' compensation impacts.
The products are RiskLink and RiskBrowser 5.1, which the company said is a full upgrade of RMS Japan Earthquake model, incorporating state-of-the-art earthquake modeling methodologies and the latest research on earthquake hazards in that country.
RMS said it is the first catastrophe model to incorporate research from the Japan National Seismic Hazard Maps, published in March, 2005.
"Working with our partner in Japan, OYO Corporation, each component of the model–from the earthquake hazard data to the quantification of financial loss–has been updated using the latest scientific and market research," said Craig Van Anne, chief executive officer, OYORMS.
Mr. Van Anne said the new product allows insurers "to more accurately model the vulnerability of individual locations to earthquake hazard in Japan and more successfully manage their entire portfolio."
The new model assesses seismic risk for all islands of Japan, including Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa, as well as the Bonin Islands.
The company said the model is RMS' latest model to implement third-generation earthquake risk analysis techniques, including the company's variable resolution grid (VRG) technology for geographic hazard analysis and use of spectral response for modeling ground motion and building damage.
RMS said enhanced financial modeling capabilities to model complex (or multiple) step policies have been added to provide consistency with the natural peril insurance coverage offered in the Japanese market.
In addition, the company said, the 2005 Japan Industry Exposure Database (IED) was rebuilt with particular focus on the commercial and industrial lines of business, providing insured value estimates for typhoon coverage, earthquake shake and fire following earthquake coverage, and Earthquake Fire Expenses Insurance (EFEI) specific to the Japanese market.
Risklink and RiskBrowser 5.1 also feature updates to U.S. models for workers' compensation and terrorism risk. Workers' compensation cost severities have been updated to support loss estimation of U.S. workers' compensation exposure through 2006.
In addition, target databases and scenario footprints in RiskLink and RiskBrowser have been updated to reflect the latest analysis of terrorism risk in the U.S., consistent with version 2.4 of the RMS U.S. Probabilistic Terrorism Model.
RMS said international geocoding has also been expanded for the latest version. High resolution (street level) geocoding capabilities have been added for Hong Kong and Singapore, and geocoding has been added for an additional 30 countries.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.