NEW YORK, April 21, 2011 — Reporters covering the 2011 National Hurricane Conference today in Atlanta, Georgia, can hear the Insurance Information Institute’s (I.I.I.) presentation on the Dangers ofComplacency: Dealing with Insurance Amnesia After Storm-Free Years. The session gets underway at 1:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, 265 Peachtree Street, NE, Grand Hall East A, Exhibit Level.
Moderated by the I.I.I.’s Bill Davis, the panel will include Jeanne Salvatore, senior vice president, Public Affairs at the I.I.I., who is delivering a presentation on Strategic Insurance Education: Using Traditional and Social Media to Empower Consumers to Prepare for a Hurricane. Bud Trice, vice president, Catastrophic Services, Crawford and Company, Atlanta, Georgia; and Debbie Harwick, account director, FloodSmart Team, Atlanta, Georgia, will speak about the issues of planning for a northeast hurricane and assessing storm risk in Florida, respectively. A discussion, and a question and answer session, will follow.
Hurricane Ike, which hit Texas in September 2008, was the fifth-costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, as defined by insured losses, causing $12.5 billion in damages at the time. But the most recent severe hurricane to strike the East Coast came in October 2005, when Hurricane Wilma generated $10.3 billion in insured losses in Florida. Wilma ranks as the sixth most-expensive natural disaster to have ever hit the United States.
Earlier this week, also at the National Hurricane Conference, which began on Monday, April 18, and concludes on Friday, April 22, the I.I.I.’s Lynne McChristian gave a PowerPoint presentation on How to Read Your Insurance Policy and another one on How to Conduct a Home Inventory.
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