As someone who lived in Japan for two years—and who experienced the Kobe earthquake firsthand—the devastating disaster that struck the country hit me hard from a personal standpoint.
But as soon as the magnitude of the event became clear, it was obvious that there would be enormous professional ramifications as well: an unfolding story of enormous importance to the readers of NU—one that we would need to cover in depth over the days (and, most likely, weeks) ahead.
And I'm proud of the coverage produced by our team of reporters, which started almost immediately after the epic quake and tsunami wrought such horrific damage, with our first reports going up online in hours. By Monday, Susanne Sclafane and Chad Hemenway had assembled a comprehensive report on property-loss estimates—and began to explore the question of the strategic impact of the event on the industry and what the effect would be on global insurance rates.
Now, as I write this just six days after the earth shifted, we have an online package of 15 stories—moving, gripping slideshows whose images reveal all-too-powerfully the awful extent of the catastrophe; insightful analysis on how the quake-tsunami twin disaster revealed a potential flaw in cat models; and an examination of the fallout on the stock prices of insurance companies.
Robert Hyle, the editor of our sister publication, Tech Decisions, called up some of his key contacts for a blog he wrote on the effect on insurance IT strategy. And of course, this was a triple-barreled tragedy, with a quake, a tsunami—and the still-evolving nuclear-plants crisis. Mark Ruquet investigated this angle and discovered that exposure for private insurers is likely to be light—at least for now. And checking in on the fallout on the other side of the Pacific, Phil Gusman found insurers in California can expect to see business-interruption and other claims from damage caused to marinas by tsunami waves that hit the coast.
Our full-bore coverage of the quake in the issue in your hands starts on page 6 and offers what I think is must-read analysis for industry professionals. And this story obviously is far from over. We will continue to deliver digital updates to you about the industry-shifting implications, and I encourage you all to bookmark our special, dedicated section: http://www.propertycasualty360.com/tag/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami.
On a final note, in the wake of our reports on disasters, whether natural or man-made, we inevitably get feedback decrying our lack of attention to the human element. Rest assured that the NU team is deeply affected by the suffering endured by the victims—but we know that our audience is best served by our staying laser-focused on the insurance issues.
And we take comfort in knowing that we're playing a small part in aiding the recovery—because the readers of NU are playing a major role in that effort by doing what the insurance industry does best: helping people put back together their shattered lives.
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