As Nat Cat Losses Mount, a Resilience Mindset Matters More Than Ever

Insurance is essential for individuals, businesses, and communities to recover quickly from natural catastrophes ‑ but perils have evolved to a point at which risk transfer, though necessary, isn’t enough to ensure resilience.

Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan said during a webinar that better insured communities recover more quickly but ‘the long-term resilience of both the communities impacted by natural catastrophes and of the industry itself depend on preparedness and improved risk mitigation.’ He was one of three panelists participating in the webinar.

Insured U.S. natural catastrophe losses totaled $67 billion in 2020 after an Atlantic hurricane season which included 30 named storms, record-setting wildfires in California, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest, and a severe derecho in Iowa.

This year’s hurricane season looks to be more severe; the Bootleg wildfire in Oregon ‑ so large and intense it has begun to create its own weather and is affecting air quality as far east as New York City ‑ isn’t expected to be fully contained until late November; and these disasters are taking place on the heels of devastating winter storms in the first quarter.