Page 37 - Insurance Times June 2021

TROPICAL

CYCLONES - A

CHALLENGE TO

INDIAN GENERAL

INSURANCE

INDUSTRY

T ropical Cyclone is a hazard experienced on sea and downstream plant complexes are generally located in

coasts in the tropical regions of the earth and is
& around the port cities. The population of the port cities is
ever increasing and so there are consumer industries to
known to man for many centuries. They have
caused catastrophic havocs in terms of loss of
human lives and damage to the assets on the coasts. meet the growing needs of ever increasing population.
About 80 cyclones hit coasts ion the tropical regions of the
earth every year and about 6% hit Indian coast.
India is blessed with a long coast of 7516.5 kilometers Thevulnerability of the port cities therefore is increasing
covering both the east & west coast. The sea ports are with no tools available to assess & quantify the risk of
gateways to international trade resulting in port cities with Tropical Cyclone and to control it to acceptable/insurable
large population and creation of huge capital assets. level.
Mumbai developed into commercial capital of India since it
was a port city. Similarly port cities on the east coast such a A lot of data is available in terms of regions prone to Tropical
Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Paradeep, Haldia while Gujarat Cyclones, their intensities & frequencies. The effort however
has well developed ports growing very rapidly. Refineries is directed towards predicting the Tropical Cyclone track and
giving early warnings and to save lives. The human losses
About the author are reduced substantially in the 21st century. Thanks to the
satellites and the early warning systems developed by
Shreenivas Vasudeo Kulkarni meteorological offices world over and the disciplined
Panel Expert / Consultant - Unity evacuations carried out by the local governments. But the
Geospatial LLP
Retired Risk and Insurance Management Tropical Cyclones continue to cause enormous economic
Consultant damages/losses.
B. E. (Electrical), AIII (Indian Insurance Institute,
Mumbai), ACII (The Chartered Insurance Institute, However, there is no actionable Tropical Cyclone Risk
London), DIPSM (British Safety Council, London)
Assessment at the location where an individual has assets
The Insurance Times, June 2021 37