The worst cyclone in six years is set to smash into the coast of Queensland on Tuesday morning, forcing thousands of Australians to evacuate or seek emergency shelter.
Good land use and planning can do much to reduce the impact of natural catastrophes, not only for the people living in those communities, but for the companies that insure them.
El Nino's effects are just beginning in much of the world and its already shaping up potentially as one of the three strongest El Nino patterns since record-keeping began in 1950.
Investigators looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the Indian Ocean may almost double the area they are combing if the current search doesnt yield any results.
For 48 publicly traded property and casualty companies across various industry subsectors, aggregate operating earnings increased by 30% in 2013 compared to 2012, thanks to improved underwriting results due to lower catastrophe losses.
See charts and analysis breaking down the 2013 performance of five P&C subsectors: commercial diversified, regionals, specialty commercial, personal writers and reinsurance.