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INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE
Contact: Press Offices
New York: 212-346-5500; media@iii.org
Washington, D.C.: 202-833-1580

NEW YORK, January 8, 2007 — Property/casualty insurers have played a pivotal role in spurring economic recovery in the aftermath of unprecedented hurricanes and terrorist attacks, according to a new analysis by the ̽����ѡ Information Institute (I.I.I.).

To illustrate how insurers have become the nation’s economic “first responders” following disasters, the I.I.I. released this week a new chapter to its Web-based publication A Firm Foundation: How the ̽����ѡ Industry Supports the Economy ( ). Titled “Defraying the Economic Costs of Disasters,” the chapter assesses how insurance payouts assisted communities which fell victim to hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist attacks, and places these momentous events in historical context.

Property/casualty insurers, for example, paid $40.6 billion in 2005 Hurricane Katrina-related claims to more than 1.7 million policyholders, monies that went to property owners and renters not only in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida but also to residents of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

Moreover, the new chapter of A Firm Foundation includes a synopsis of the “10 Most Costly U.S. Hurricanes,” and offers a look at the insured losses resulting from major 2006 U.S. catastrophes, most notably Tropical Storm Ernesto. It also provides a comprehensive assessment of the losses inflicted on certain U.S. communities by earthquakes and terrorist attacks, and how insurers responded economically to those events. For instance, insurers paid $32.5 billion in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Besides the addition of the new chapter, all of the other content at has been completely updated. Dozens of charts provide data on the industry’s contribution to the national and to individual state economies, with an analysis of insurers as investors, the industry’s contribution to selected industries, and more. Together the charts and accompanying text clearly illuminate the industry’s role in providing a firm foundation for the nation’s economy.

“Property/casualty (auto, home and commercial) insurance allows those who are the victims of accidental loss to recover financially through the payment of claims for property damage and injury,” writes Dr. Robert Hartwig, I.I.I.’s president, in the introduction to A Firm Foundation. “When property/casualty insurance claims are paid, funds are transferred to local businesses in the form of payment for goods or services. Among those that receive the most revenue are auto repair shops, building contractors, and the health care community.”

A state-by-state index allows information on specific states to be extracted and used to compile a tailor-made handbook for an individual state. Furthermore, the I.I.I. has posted new state-specific content, including the latest look at how the economies of Florida and Texas are supported by the insurance industry, on its public Web site at /economics/stateeditions/ . Future reports focusing on Maryland, California and South Carolina will be available soon at the same link.

A new hard-copy edition of A Firm Foundation: How the ̽����ѡ Industry Supports the Economy, 2007 will be available at the end of February. Please email books@iii.org to request copies of this and other I.I.I. publications.

The I.I.I. is a nonprofit, communications organization supported by the insurance industry.