Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

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March 2008                                                                                              Volume 14 - Number 2

    

 

Insurance News...

     

 

Profile what All State Insurance is doing in emergency management

By: Mutlaq Alaubaie

 

All State is one of the countries leading life insurers that provide insurance products to more than 17 million people across the United States and Canada. Like other insurance companies All Star offers insurance for autos, homes, property, life, mortgage protection, and business. Evidently, natural catastrophes present serious risk not only for the company but also for the consumers and for the economy.

All State recognized the need for Emergency Management and for dealing more effectively and efficiently with mega-disasters. In 2005 it assisted in the establishment of ProtectingAmerica.org, a coalition aimed at raising awareness to the public and policyholders on the threat and how to prepare for disasters. Moreover, it aids in educating them on how to save lives and mitigate risk during these low frequency, high severity events.

The goals of the coalition include the prevention and mitigation of these events by requiring new construction that could reduce impact of these catastrophes such as implementing stronger building codes and sensible land use policies. Other programs in prevention and mitigation process can also save lives and better protect property.

Also, another goal is educating consumers on how to prepare for catastrophes to ensure that they are better protected and to empower them against scam artists that try to take advantage of families during the disasters. In addition, this coalition strives to improve the process of relief, recovery and rebuilding by developing innovative procedures that ensures that sufficient amount of building materials, contractors and supplies is available after the disaster. Furthermore, prior to the occurrence of every catastrophe recovery efforts are evaluated and assessed by local, state and federal officials to identify the weak points and to ensure continuous improvement in the process.

Moreover, the coalition aims at strengthening financial protection at lower costs for consumers by creating catastrophe protection funds at the national and state level. These funds have the capability to stabilize markets, decrease insurance cost and avoid availability difficulties prior to the occurrence of a catastrophe.

In addition to this coalition, All State has awarded grants to Harris County Citizen Corps to further the mission of training citizens on how to prepare and respond to any disaster whether manmade or natural. This grant includes the launching of a multi-media disaster preparedness public awareness campaign. All State foundation also funds the Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, an educational program that trains neighborhood volunteers to effectively prepare for and react to disasters.

The company also, emphasizes the need to help consumers during and prior to the occurrence of an emergency event by providing them with essential information that they need to minimize the associated losses. They also assist the state and local officials and emergency managers by providing them with information from their assessment of the related damages.

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