ImageCat and RMS release joint research report on the 2007 U.S. Wildfire Season
Long Beach, CA. - 21 February 2008. ImageCat, Inc. and Risk Management Solutions (RMS) issued a joint research report Wednesday on the 2007 U.S. wildfire season. This report documents the unique way in which a new generation of advanced technologies and data fusion techniques- that proved invaluable amidst the chaos following Katrina - were employed for wildfire. In tandem with cat model predictions and traditional ground surveys, information extracted from remote sensing imagery provides a rapid, independent and accurate record of damage and loss, which in the early days when claim statistics are absent, offers increased confidence in the magnitude of loss.
During the course of the devastating 2007 California wildfire season, damage assessment teams at ImageCat (led by Dr. Beverley Adams, Remote Sensing Technical Director and Shubharoop Ghosh) collaborated with RMS, to implement an innovative advanced technology-driven approach to assess structural damage and produce an independent estimate of losses. As one of the first damage assessment teams to deploy, ImageCat conducted aerial reconnaissance throughout affected areas and captured alternative damage assessment information for validation purposes. Damage assessments were rapidly developed and integrated with secondary sources such as tax assessor data to map damage and loss at a parcel level.
Aerial reconnaissance proved to be the most effective means of capturing real-time regional damage information on these fires. Whereas, satellite imagery is normally the preferred data sensor, the fact that many of the affected areas were obscured by dense smoke for days made it impossible for this imagery to be used to identify burnt structures. Aerial reconnaissance with GPS-based video technology was a more effective means of measuring the extent of damage caused by these fires.
"Data integration has the power to maximize accuracy and reduce uncertainties surrounding loss estimates," said Beverley Adams, remote sensing technical director at ImageCat. RMS analyzed these datasets in conjunction with the detailed, high-resolution RMSŪ Wildfire Hazard Data to validate wildfire threat, susceptibility and hazard in Southern California.
About RMS
RMS is the world's leading provider of products, services, and expertise for the quantification and management of catastrophe risk. Founded at Stanford University in 1988, RMS grew rapidly in the 1990s, offering technology and services for the management of insurance catastrophe risk associated with natural perils such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and windstorms, as well as products for weather derivatives and enterprise risk management for the P&C insurance industry. Today, RMS also leads the market in risk modeling for man-made disasters associated with acts of terrorism, and recently released the first infectious disease model to quantify and manage the risks associated with pandemic disease on the world's population and economy. More information can be found at www.rms.com.
About ImageCat
ImageCat, Inc. is an international risk management innovation company, whose mission it is to support the global risk and disaster management needs of today, using the technologies of tomorrow. The company is highly regarded for its cutting-edge research, with the remote sensing division focusing on designing tools that better quantify the built environment, together with the risks and impacts associated with terrorist attacks, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and other disasters. More information can be found at www.imagecatinc.com.
Read RMS-ImageCat joint report, The 2007 U.S. Wildfire Season: Lessons from Southern California
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