CHARLES NYCE

REGARDLESS OF YOUR FIELD of endeavor, one thing always remains constant: time brings change. In the insurance industry, the risks that people face, as well as the products and services that insurers offer to handle these risks, are constantly changing. Staying up-to-date is a challenge.

This book is designed as a current assessment of research into and applications of insurance related to natural hazards. Today an assessment that remains relevant and timely must be linked to technology. Technology, in the form of the Internet or World Wide Web (WWW), enables the reader to quickly gather up-to-date information within a matter of minutes. This appendix presents links of the topics covered in this book to sources of information on the World Wide Web in order to allow readers the advantage of the continuous updating of information. To use an analogy, this book in print represents a snapshot of the current role of insurance in dealing with natural hazards. However, over time, a photograph becomes dated. Links to the World Wide Web allow readers access to a source of information that is constantly changing and growing.

By linking this book to the World Wide Web, readers can directly interface with current information. The Internet provides an unimaginable amount of information, and sorting through it can be daunting. The links listed here can provide the reader with in-depth or more detailed knowledge about topics discussed in this book. The web pages cited are maintained by organizations that have a strong interest in natural hazards and strategies for dealing with them.

For those readers not already familiar with the World Wide Web, the Internet is an electronic linking of millions of sites containing information on every conceivable topic. To access these sites, the user basically needs three things: a computer, a modem, and a web interface. (For more information on the use of the Web, see 10 Minute Guide to the Internet by Galen Grimes and Rick Bolton (Que Education and Training, 1997, third edition, ISBN 0789714051); 50 Fun Ways to Internet by Alan Hoffman (Career Press, 1998, second edition, ISBN 156414322); or The Internet and the World Wide Web: A Time-Saving Guide for New Users by Mark Kressin (Prentice-Hall Computer Books, 1997, ISBN 0134937430.)

This appendix contains over 90 links to various web sites, listed in the order in which these topics appear in the book. Some of the more relevant web sites are briefly discussed.

From supply to demand, and from regulation to insurability, all aspects of insurance as it relates to natural hazards are discussed in this book. There are literally thousands of web sites that deal with the insurance industry. The Insurance Industry Internet Network and the Insurance News Network provide some of the most comprehensive coverage. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is the best site on the web for regulatory issues.

The National Flood Insurance Program was established in 1968 for the purpose of reducing flood losses and disaster relief costs. The NFIP was developed in response to the private insurance markets' contention that the flood risk was uninsurable. Today, the NFIP is often used as an example of the role the federal government can play in insuring against natural hazards. It has been a pioneer in other related areas such as floodplain mapping and management and the development of the Community Rating System (CRS).

FEMA is the principal government agency dealing with natural hazards. Founded in 1979, FEMA's mission is ''to reduce loss of life and property and protect our nation's critical infrastructure from all types of hazards through a comprehensive, risk-based, emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery." FEMA's web site deals with all aspects of natural hazards, from mitigation and emergency preparedness training, to storm tracking, to aid following a disaster.

There are numerous sites on the web that cover congressional hearings and legislation. This appendix lists three key sites under "Congressional measures for dealing with natural hazards" that allow the reader to track not only natural hazards bills that Congress enacts, but also congressional hearings and measures that do not become laws. This allows the reader to ascertain the attitude of policymakers toward natural disasters. All three sites contain searchable databases on all aspects of the U.S. Congress.

The future of risk financing for catastrophic disasters is likely to be linked to the capital markets. Capital markets in the United States are better able to absorb multi-billion dollar losses than are private insurance markets. Property Claims Service (PCS) options offered by the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and Act of God bond issues are the first steps to securitization of catastrophe risk. Finding online information in this rapidly developing field has not been easy. Aside from the CBOT, there are no comprehensive web pages that deal with these topics.

Many states have attempted to circumvent problems in the private homeowners' insurance markets by developing residual or windstorm pools. The state of Florida is just one example. The Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association, or FWUA, provides wind coverage to property owners living on the coast in Florida who cannot obtain wind coverage from private insurance companies. Created in 1970, the FWUA was designed to cover wind risk in the Florida Keys, but has since expanded to 29 of the 35 coastal counties in Florida.

There are numerous web sites that deal solely with individual hazards and their impacts. EQE International, FEMA, and U.S. Geological Survey are all organizations that provide fairly intensive web sites dealing with earthquake, hail, hurricanes, landslides, lightning, tornadoes, wildfires, winter storms, and volcanoes. Both EQE International and FEMA provide sites that have storm-tracking capabilities for up-to-the-minute information on the latest storms.

The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, through its web site, provides interested parties with a wealth of information regarding all aspects of natural hazards. An index page regarding every type of natural hazard encountered in this country is available, as well as information on publications regarding natural hazards. This index provides the reader with an excellent starting point for interactive research regarding natural hazards.

Disaster Finder. This web site, maintained by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, "offers a complete index to the best disaster web sites on the Internet" and has won several awards for "Best of the Net." It provides the reader with the option to search for key words, or to browse through the Disaster Finder's own categorization of related sites. Some of the categories covered by this site include general hazard information, disaster management, and organizations concerned with natural hazards.