St. Patrick's Day parades and other festivities may mean entertainment for the public, but for municipal risk managers they represent a need for pre-planning, coordination and contractual risk transfer, said an insurance expert.
Another series of earthquakes struck Chile. A 6.9 magnitude quake shook the central part of the country, including Santiago, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
Liberty Mutual Chief Executive Officer Edmund F. Kelly, said he takes a "bearish" view of the future of the economy with his biggest concern being inflation, which he sees as almost inevitable in a few years.
Swiss Re estimated that total insurance industry losses from the Feb. 27 Chile earthquake could reach $7 billion and said its own loss from the event could possibly hit $500 million.
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Turkey's eastern province of Elazig has killed 51 people, but the insured losses should be light, a catastrophe modeling firm reported.
Insured losses from the Chile earthquake will range from $3 billion to $8 billion, according to an early estimate from catastrophe risk modeling firm Eqecat.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck south central Taiwan Thursday morning at 8:20 a.m. local time, according to catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide. Losses are not expected to exceed $1 billion.
Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses in France, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands from winter storm Xynthia will be between EUR1.5 billion ($2 billion) and EUR3 billion ($4 billion).