Technology Focus - Swiss Re and MMC to create flood risk solution.

(From Reinsurance)

Swiss Re has joined forces with leading Czech technology company MultiMedia Computer (MMC) to produce a new flood risk assessment tool for the Czech insurance market.

The model comes after severe flooding hit central Europe in August 2002, when the rivers Elbe and Danube, as well as other subsidiaries, burst their banks after torrential rain. The flooding caused EUR800m in damages in Prague alone, and inflicted another EUR6bn of damages in the German state of Saxony. Total costs from the event came to EUR15bn.

More than 200,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes in the Czech Republic and flooding was widespread over most of Europe, ranging from the UK to the Black Sea. The 2002 floods were the worst to hit central Europe for at least a century, and exceeded the high water levels of the 1890 floods, which hit Prague, killed dozens of people and damaged the historic Charles Bridge over the River Vltava.

Swiss Re and MMC started to talk about developing a model before the 2002 floods and accelerated the development in the aftermath. It allows Czech direct insurers to apply flood risk assessment techniques to the underwriting process. Underwriters, insurance agents and risk managers can use the ...