The Asean Insurance Council, through its Asean Natural Disaster Research Works and Sharing Committee, established the Catastrophe and Risk Management in Asean, a Web-based media portal for sharing awareness on catastrophe and disaster risk management in Asean. Carma is nonprofit and, therefore, a free web site where users can set up their own account to search for data, post papers and register projects related to catastrophe and disaster risk. It is owned by the AIC. Its main objective is information sharing for the benefit of Asean, especially during natural catastrophes. Andrews was formed in 2007 to have a gathering of academicians specializing in Asian natural disaster research, insurance practitioners and other relevant public and private sector organizations to facilitate dialogue, information exchange and initiate appropriate action.
As a free web site, anyone can browse, research and download papers on disaster risk. One only has to register. Subscribed users can be sent summaries or articles on their areas of concern. Insurers and private individuals can upload papers and projects on topics such as cyclones, disaster risk management, droughts, earthquakes, flood, landslides, tsunami and others. Readers can also rate and comment on the papers posted.
The web site was developed with the sponsorship of Catalytics Pte. Ltd. Catalytics was founded in Singapore in 2009 with the intention of becoming the first wholly Asian Cat Modeling company. The letter of mandate was signed on September 1, 2016. Catalytics is in partnership, as well, with insurers for catastrophe modeling and risk management in Asean. Catalytics launched the Philippine earthquake model, which is currently used by most major local insurers as well as the Asian Development Bank and Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association. The company has since expanded its Asean earthquake footprint to include Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, offering an Asean suite of earthquake models.
A significant feature of Carma are the Earthquake Details and First Alert System and the Weather Forecast. The earthquake alert system shows, in real time, all earthquakes in the Asian region and send earthquake alerts for those of 6.2 on the Richter Scale and above, and with depths of 10 kilometers. A recent project of Carma is an earthquake alert that can be sent through a mobile app. Its weather forecast portal shows the daily rainfall, temperature, wind and mean sea level pressure data. These developments are helpful for our country’s disaster risk reduction programs.
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Dennis B. Funa is the current insurance commissioner. Funa was appointed by President Duterte as the new insurance commissioner in December 2016. E-mail: dennisfuna@yahoo.com.
