RMS Tunes Up Asian Cat Models

Risk Management Solutions, the Newark, Calif.-based catastrophe modeling firm, announced today it has launched several new models for the emerging Asian marketplace.

The RMS China Earthquake Model; RMS India Earthquake Model; and RMS Japan, China and Taiwan Earthquake Models were launched with version 7.0 of RiskLink and RiskBrowser modeling systems on June 20, the company said.

Jason Futers, vice president and Asia market practice lead at RMS, said: “Earthquake risk is of particular concern since this low-frequency but high-severity hazard threatens a significant portion of urban Asia.”

RMS said its India Earthquake Model was originally launched in December 2006 as an aggregate model. It said a new detailed model is now available at a time when the insurance industry in India is experiencing a period of rapid transformation–premiums are experiencing rapid growth, and in January 2007, a new de-tariffed regime came into force.

The new India Model allows detailed location analysis and country-specific vulnerability curves that incorporate the lessons from the recent damaging events of Gujarat, 2001, and Kashmir, 2005, RMS said.

RMS said its Japan, China and Taiwan Earthquake Models expand upon the peril models developed for these regions to allow for the assessment of earthquake-related injury and mortality. The models consider several different factors, including number of people exposed, severity of ground shaking, vulnerability of the structures and potential for secondary hazards such as fires.

RMS earthquake casualty models use seven different injury states to classify injury severity, which are then translated to currency loss estimates. The company said this function makes it possible to support a range of loss calculations appropriate for life, health, personal accident and other types of insurance.

According to the company, the RMS China Earthquake Model is capable of assessing the seismic risk to property across continental China, including Hong Kong, and Macau. The model incorporates a simulated set of approximately 85,000 earthquake events.

RMS said its modeling team was granted access to local knowledge on seismic sources and ground motion, unique data on soil classification/liquefaction potential, and computer models of local building types through a partnership with China's Institute of Engineering Mechanics (IEM).