LOCATION GeoTRIVIA May 2006

The following GeoTrivia quiz questions appear in the May 2006 issue of OnLocation. What's your score?

What are the top ten catastrophic events for insured property losses in the United States through year-end 2005?
How does the National Hurricane Center name hurricanes in the Atlantic?
What are the largest and deadliest earthquakes by year for the period 2000 to 2005?
Name the ten "safest" cities in the United States with a population over one million. By "safe," we mean areas with the lowest average potential for insured losses from natural catastrophes and terrorism.
How is it possible that in the aftermath of an earthquake or hurricane, homes on one side of a street are destroyed, while homes on the other side suffer minimal damage?

And the answers are . . .

What are the top ten catastrophic events for insured property losses in the United States through year-end 2005?

The chart below lists the ten costliest catastrophes in the United States (from highest to lowest) in terms of insured losses, adjusted for inflation. ISO defines a catastrophe as an event that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses and affects a significant number of property/casualty policyholders and insurers. The estimates represent anticipated industrywide insured losses, reflecting the total personal and commercial property insurance payments covering fixed property, vehicles, boats, related property items, business interruption, and additional living expenses. The estimates exclude loss-adjustment expenses.
Ranked at number 3, the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania killed almost 3,000 people and caused estimated insured losses of about $32.5 billion, including commercial liability and group life insurance claims. More than 400 fire and emergency responders were among those killed, the largest loss of life for this group in a single incident. The World Trade Center attack was the worst building disaster in recorded history.

THE TEN COSTLIEST CATASTROPHES IN THE U.S. Insured loss ($ millions)
Rank	Date	Peril	Dollars when occurred	In 2005 dollars*
1	8/2005	Hurricane Katrina	$38,100	$38,100
2	8/1992	Hurricane Andrew	15,500	21,576
3	9/2001	World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks	18,800	20,732
4	1/1994	Northridge, CA, earthquake	12,500	16,473
5	10/2005	Hurricane Wilma	8,400	8,400
6	8/2004	Hurricane Charley	7,475	7,728
7	9/2004	Hurricane Ivan	7,110	7,351
8	9/1989	Hurricane Hugo	4,195	6,607
9	9/2005	Hurricane Rita	5,000	5,000
10	9/2004	Hurricane Frances	4,595	4,751
* Adjusted to 2005 dollars by the Insurance Information Institute. Source: ISO; Insurance Information Institute.

How does the National Hurricane Center name hurricanes in the Atlantic?

When a tropical depression reaches tropical storm strength, the National Hurricane Center gives it a name. For hurricanes in the Atlantic, men's names alternate with women's names in alphabetical order. An international committee of the World Meteorological Organization maintains and updates six lists of 21 names each. The organization recycles the lists every six years, so they will use the 2006 list again in 2012.
The only time there's a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. In the event that there are more than 21 named hurricanes in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms take their names from the Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, and so on).

If you're curious about whether your name has made the cut, take a look at the six lists below for years 2005 to 2010.

ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES
2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Arlene Bret Cindy Dennis Emily Franklin Gert Harvey Irene Jose Katrina Lee Maria Nate Ophelia Philippe Rita Stan Tammy Vince Wilma	Alberto Beryl Chris Debby Ernesto Florence Gordon Helene Isaac Joyce Kirk Leslie Michael Nadine Oscar Patty Rafael Sandy Tony Valerie William	Andrea Barry Chantal Dean Erin Felix Gabrielle Humberto Ingrid Jerry Karen Lorenzo Melissa Noel Olga Pablo Rebekah Sebastien Tanya Van Wendy	Arthur Bertha Cristobal Dolly Edouard Fay Gustav Hanna Ike Josephine Kyle Laura Marco Nana Omar Paloma Rene Sally Teddy Vicky Wilfred	Ana Bill Claudette Danny Erika Fred Grace Henri Ida Joaquin Kate Larry Mindy Nicholas Odette Peter Rose Sam Teresa Victor Wanda	Alex Bonnie Colin Danielle Earl Fiona Gaston Hermine Igor Julia Karl Lisa Matthew Nicole Otto Paula Richard Shary Tomas Virginie Walter

What are the largest and deadliest earthquakes by year for the period 2000 to 2005?

The charts below list the largest and deadliest earthquakes for the past six years, including region, magnitude, and fatalities. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program (EHP) provides the data. The goals of the EHP are to improve earthquake identification and risk-assessment methods and maintain and improve earthquake monitoring in the United States (with focus on real-time systems in urban areas).
The USGS estimates that several million earthquakes occur in the world each year, but many go undetected because they occur in remote areas or have very small magnitudes. The USGS locates about 50 earthquakes every day, or 20,000 a year!

LARGEST EARTHQUAKES
Year	Date	Magnitude	Fatalities	Region
2005	3/28	8.7	1,313	Northern Sumatra, Indonesia
2004	12/26	9.0	283,106	Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra
2003	9/25	8.3	0	Hokkaido, Japan Region
2002	11/03	7.9	0	Central Alaska
2001	6/23	8.4	138	Near Coast of Peru
2000	11/16	8.0	2	New Ireland Region, P.N.G.

DEADLIEST EARTHQUAKES
Year	Date	Magnitude	Fatalities	Region
2005	10/08	7.6	80,361	Pakistan
2004	12/26	9.0	283,106	Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra
2003	12/26	6.6	31,000	Southeastern Iran
2002	3/25	6.1	1,000	Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan
2001	1/26	7.7	20,023	India
2000	6/04	7.9	103	Southern Sumatra, Indonesia

Name the ten "safest" cities in the United States with a population over one million. By "safe," we mean areas with the lowest average potential for insured losses from natural catastrophes and terrorism.

AIR Worldwide Corporation, a subsidiary of ISO and a leading catastrophe-modeling firm, compiled a list of the country's ten "safest" cities, which was subsequently published in Risk & Insurance® magazine. AIR's catastrophe models can locate areas facing the highest potential losses from hurricane, earthquake, severe thunderstorm, winter storms, and terrorism, providing businesses and the insurance industry with a good understanding of the risks they face.

The ten "safest" cities are:

Sacramento, California
Phoenix, Arizona
Rochester, New York
Columbus, Ohio
Buffalo, New York
Cincinnati, Ohio
Grand Rapids, Michigan
San Diego, California
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hartford, Connecticut

Some of the cities that made the list may seem surprising. San Diego, California, for example, does have a moderate risk for earthquakes and terrorism, but that's offset by an extremely low risk from hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, and winter storms. And while Rochester and Buffalo experience severe winter storms, their risk from other perils is quite small. Even though the number 1 safest city is in earthquake-prone California, the Sacramento region is in a zone 3 for seismic activity — a low risk compared with the rest of the state.

How is it possible that in the aftermath of an earthquake or hurricane, homes on one side of a street are destroyed, while homes on the other side suffer minimal damage?

The building code in effect in a community — and the commitment with which the community enforces its code — can have a major effect on losses if a natural disaster strikes. After Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, photos taken in several parts of Florida showed homes on one side of a street destroyed, while homes on the other side suffered minimal damage. Later inspection determined that, in many cases, construction techniques for the heavily damaged buildings were well below the minimum standard required by the adopted building code.
LOCATION® offers a fast and accurate way to get information on building-code enforcement on more than 14,000 communities around the country. Building-code information comes to you as a flat-file database in tab-delimited format. The service is available online or on monthly CDs.

The aftermath of Hurricane Andrew: destroyed homes (lower right) across the street
from a subdivision with superior construction (upper left).


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