NATHAN – Improving natural hazard assessments
In the NATHAN Risk Suite, Munich Re offers unique information and consultancy services that make it easier to identify and assess natural hazard risks that are distributed over large areas. Among the services offered are its World Map and Globe of Natural Hazards.
The frequency of earthquakes, windstorms and floods and the damage caused by them have been increasing significantly for decades. This trend poses a major challenge for governments, the corporate sector and of course for the insurance industry as risk carriers. Documenting and analysing natural catastrophes are important steps in preparing to cope with looming hazards and developing our ability to identify emerging trends at an early stage. Munich Re makes a major contribution to progress in this field.
Expert assessments and holistic risk management
Munich Re offers its clients the NATHAN ("Natural Hazards Assessment Network") Risk Suite. This service lets insurers and institutions determine precisely the exposure of specific locations to natural catastrophes, detect substantial gaps in cover and improve the envisioned risk management measures. The system is based on catastrophe and loss data which Munich Re has systematically recorded over the past four decades and is now stored in a unique loss database with more than 28,000 entries. This extensive knowledge is the basis for our NATHAN offerings, which include worldwide and national risk assessments, loss lists and brief opinions and statements by experts. The database also serves to develop client-specific insurance solutions and finds application in both science and political decision-making processes.
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Losses resulting from natural catastrophes
This diagram indicates the total damage and the insured damage caused by major natural catastrophes. This long-term analysis is one of the most important and reliable statistics available on natural catastrophes.
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Made-to-measure products
The NATHAN World Map of Natural Hazards has been available as a component of the NATHAN Risk Suite since 2011. NATHAN maps, which were developed by geoscientists on the basis of analyses of major catastrophes, indicate degrees of exposure to specific hazards. As an adaptable assessment tool in DVD form, the globe combines Munich Re's collective geo-intelligence, for example, also in relation to urban areas. Via its client portal » connect.munichre, Munich Re also offers online services such as individual risk analyses including high-resolution maps and analyses of the natural hazard exposures of entire portfolios. These services are rounded off by expert consulting services regarding, for instance, risk controlling or the introduction of geoscientific solutions in a client company.
Knowledge transfer in the new research centre
With its broad NATHAN expertise, Munich Re also supports scientific research. For example, we are a founding member of the new Institute for Business and Home Safety located in South Carolina, USA. Founded in October 2010, this centre is uniquely suited for conducting catastrophe simulations because its large-scale subterranean laboratories can simulate hurricane winds exceeding 200 km/h and test their effects on buildings and infrastructure.
The United Nations are showing interest
This comprehensive know-how regarding disaster preparedness and climate change is also of interest to the United Nations. The UN wants to become better acquainted with Munich Re and its services and to utilise them more intensively in the future. In February 2011, Thomas Loster, Head of the Munich Re Foundation, was invited to UN headquarters in New York, where he made a presentation on NATHAN services and Munich Re's solutions for adapting to the consequences of climate change.
