Optimising disaster recovery: the role of insurance capital in improving economic resilience

Putting communities impacted by disasters back on their feet as quickly as possible, and in a better state, is just one example of how we make AXA’s purpose a reality. (Re) insurers immediately inject capital into disasters in a structured and coordinated way (through insurance companies and their claims adjusters), complementing federal and local government, aid organisations, and impacted communities’ own initiatives. This allows these communities to get back to normal quicker and in a more resilient position than before, with no debt overhang. The case for (re)insurance is clear but is seldom adequately explained.

This report looks at over 100 case studies, mainly occurring in the last 30 years and varied in terms of geography and the income levels of impacted communities. We wanted to bring out comparative information related to speed of recovery – how quickly employment and productivity returns to normal (economic) and how quickly people are back in their houses and power is restored (societal). We also wanted to focus on the quality of recovery, that is whether the post-disaster normal is better than the pre-disaster state in terms of the economy and the resilience of the community to future events from the perspective of infrastructure and economic resilience.