A recent survey about insurance among financial executives from the largest companies in North America (US and Canada-based companies with over US$1 billion a year in revenue) revealed some alarming facts. Most large companies rely only on insurance as means to protect companies from natural disasters. Surprisingly, other researches also show that there's a high level of exposure for natural catastrophes for the same companies. In the first half of 2008, losses from about 400 natural disasters occurred around the world reached the impressive amount of US$500 billion.
96% of the executives interviewed declared that some of their operations were exposed to some kind of catastrophe such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. However, less than 20% revealed to be “highly concerned” about the serious impact of disasters on their companies. Specialists say that such companies underestimate the level of coverage given by insurance, believing that it can fully protect their companies from natural risks.