OASIS LOSS MODELLING FRAMEWORK (Oasis LMF), together with the National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (Nat Re), UP Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation (UP-Dream), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and Willis Towers Watson recently unveiled the two-year project called the Oasis Platform for Catastrophe and Climate Change Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan in the Philippines or the Oasis Project.
This initiative envisions developing an open-access catastrophe model (cat model) for flood risk in the Philippines housed in the open-source catastrophe modelling platform Oasis.
It also aims to build capacity among Philippine stakeholders on how they can use, modify and develop catastrophe models.
Cat models are computer applications that estimate the risk of different natural and man-made perils (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, floods) in certain areas and calculates the cost of potential damages to structures (e.g. houses, buildings, bridges, etc.) in those areas.
International insurers and reinsurers have been using cat models to manage their catastrophe exposures, to price their insurance products, and to calculate how much risk they should retain or transfer. Governments can use these applications to develop disaster risk financing mechanisms and make risk-informed decisions on their risk reduction and mitigation efforts. The academe and other sectors meanwhile can use these to augment existing research, assess the impacts and effects of climate change, and analyze loss scenarios.
Funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the project hopes to provide new insights on catastrophe risk in the Philippines, identified as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts and hit by an average of over 20 typhoons per year.
In 2013, economic losses from Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the most devastating calamities to hit the country recently, were estimated to be around five percent of the country’s GDP or approximately P604 billion. This covered loss of human lives, buildings and infrastructure, agriculture, and general livelihood.
“The understanding of risks and its consequences is a fundamental requirement in creating a sustainable society. Barriers to entry and opaque global standards have denied this knowledge too often,” said Dickie Whitaker, chief executive officer of Oasis LMF.
“This is now changing. This project uses the best local and global experts to deliver knowledge on flood risk to the people of the Philippines. We at Oasis are privileged to play a small role in bringing the government, science, and the insurance industry together to make this a practical, sustainable solution.”
Allan Santos, CEO and president of Nat Re, said, “We are pooling together the expertise of key influencers of disaster risk management and disaster risk financing and insurance from the government, the academe, and the insurance sector, all of whom have a shared vision of more disaster resilient communities. In the end, the catastrophe model that we’ll build and the capabilities that we’ll develop will be more than just new tools to augment our decision-making and risk management processes, as they will serve as tangible proof of what the government and the private sectors—particularly the insurance industry—can achieve together.” (PR)