Underwriting Natural Hazards in Washington

What you'll explore

Gain a deeper understanding of the primary natural hazards present in Washington, including earthquake, tsunami, volcano, lahar, landslide, and flood. 

With a comprehensive understanding of how natural geography, elevation, and soil type can impact the likelihood and severity of these hazards, our presenter Scott Elliott will demonstrate how the unique characteristics around a structure can also affect factors that can influence insurability and insurance pricing, such as reconstruction costs.

You will get acquainted with each risk through historic examples and current mapping, learn best underwriting practices, and discover how to use existing resources - alongside WSRB tools like SlopeScout^® and QuakeScout - to ensure an accurate understanding of Washington risk.

What you'll walk away with 

After this course, you will be able to:

1. Identify the primary natural hazards in Washington state and recognize their likelihood of occurrence, implications, and average coverage uptake rates.
2. Recall and utilize the factors that increase likelihood and severity to support underwriting and pricing to properly insure each risk.
3. Use data from reliable sources (DNR, USGS, FEMA, WSRB) to evaluate risk at a single address level to ensure policyholders understand their risk and how to manage it.

Where we'll be