A.M.BestTV: Insurers Warn That Sinking Cities Are a Looming Threat

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLDWICK - OCTOBER 27, 2014 12:44 PM (EDT)
This ^A.M.BestTV episode examines insurers' growing concerns about a number of cities that are sinking below sea level, a process known as land subsidence. Subsidence occurs when water and gases are squeezed out of spaces between soil particles, which cause soft sediment to compact. As the sediment compacts, subsidence occurs and the land gradually sinks.

Andrew Castaldi, senior vice president and head of catastrophe perils, Americas, at Swiss Reinsurance Company, said that he believes this is a problem that must be addressed sooner rather than later. "When the combination of sea levels rising and cities sinking along the coast create problems, where people are underwater every other day or every other week, insurance will always be there to offer help but the cost to insure because of the larger losses or the larger frequency of losses could make it unaffordable for people, and if it is unaffordable, it is uninsurable," said Castaldi.

Gilles Erkens, a geologist and researcher at Deltares Research Institute, credits Tokyo for addressing this problem in the latter part of the 20th century; thus, its land subsidence problem was eradicated. It's an example he said other cities should follow.

Click here to view the entire video program: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=sinkingcities1014.

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