Happy New Year, hope everyone has at least given a little thought as to what they would like to accomplish personally and professionally this year. Just make it something you’d really enjoy or always wanted to do.

Know I’ve said this before but there has been so much in the news and on TV lately about women and their risk for heart attack and or stroke that we all need to check out the heart association’s website.  Most of the time women’s symptoms of heart problems are completely different from men.  So check it out.

Something to ponder – If it takes a village to raise a child where are the parents?

January

February

National NAIW NEW Address: 1847 E. 15th St. Tulsa, OK 74104-4610.  Send all standard mail to this address.
Send check or payments to National NAIW: Dept. 1400 P.O. Box 21820 Tulsa, OK 74101-1820

As the rapidly rising death toll from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean rim tops 150,000 by some estimates, insurers and risk modelers are facing yet another catastrophic surprise that will likely change they way they calculate risks.

At a time when the insurance industry is facing a slew of state and federal investigations into its practices, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. -- among many insurers targeted, has hired a leading federal prosecutor from Connecticut who will come on board with the company in January.

A three-member arbitration panel will determine whether a Dallas-based company must indemnify the owners of professional cyclist Lance Armstrong's racing team for a $5 million bonus triggered when Armstrong won his sixth Tour de France earlier this year.

PHUKET, Thailand (BestWire) - Insurers don't expect to take big financial hits from the massive Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, but the event is proving quite a challenge for claims adjusters and catastrophe modelers.

As the death toll nears 80,000 amid the destruction that encompassed 12 countries, assessment from the insurance perspective is only beginning. Many of the damaged areas are still inaccessible, since roads and communications have been wiped out by the walls of water that hit coastal areas ringing the Indian Ocean. Crawford & Co. (NYSE:CRDa) said it has mobilized a catastrophe team, and teams based in Thailand and Malaysia have been sent to affected areas to begin damage assessments in those countries. Adjusting staff from Crawford's Singapore office are on their way to the Maldives, an island country and tourist area off the southwest tip of India. Crawford spokesman Richard Martin said the company's 15 staffers in Thailand are in Phuket, a tourist center, and a "similar number" from Crawford's Malaysian office are on Malaysia's Penang and Langkawi islands, preparing to assess damage in those areas. "We are able to provide claims services for our clients using our local offices in those regions so far," he said.

But Martin anticipates that, as the damage becomes more clear and rescue-and-recovery efforts for the victims wind down, the claims work will gain momentum by next week. Crawford may call in staff from its Australian and U.K. offices to help by then, he said.

"Information is still sketchy at this point," he said. "We're still trying to get into some areas."

Crawford will focus on those areas where its client insurers identify their greatest insurance policy concentration, Martin said.

While the toll in lives and livelihood is immense, low insurance penetration in most of the affected areas means insurers will not be hard hit financially. Reinsurance broker Benfield Group Ltd. said that while assessment of insured losses is "only conjecture" at this point, its take is that, compared with other major catastrophes, "economic losses from this event will probably be minor."

Natural disasters, including U.S. hurricanes and Asian typhoons, cost insurers $42 billion this year, making 2004 the costliest ever for the industry, even before tsunamis struck tourist resorts Sunday in Thailand and Malaysia.

It's too early to estimate how much the destruction will add to this year's insured loss damage, Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the industry-sponsored Insurance Information Institute in New York, said. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne slammed into Florida in August and September, and a record 10 typhoons struck in the Pacific Ocean. Before the tsunamis, natural and man-made disasters had already caused $105 billion in total economic losses, according to Swiss Reinsurance Co.

Total economic losses include insurance damage, tourism and lost employment.

Swiss Re, the world's second-largest reinsurer, said claims from the tsunamis will probably be lower than the estimated $27 billion of insured damages tied to U.S. hurricanes this year. Hartwig agrees, because the United States has much more insured property than the areas affected by yesterday's tsunamis.

Total insurance premiums per capita in the United States averaged $3,638 last year, according to Swiss Re. In Indonesia, the average was $14.50.

The U.S. hurricanes caused $50 billion in total losses, making 2004 Florida's most expensive season in history, according to estimates by Wachovia Corp. Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne damaged 330,000 homes, prompting Congress to earmark $13.6 billion to help hurricane victims.

People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

-- Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

Most aid agencies agree that cash donations are the best way to show compassion in the wake of an international tragedy. Although many people share the impulse to send canned food, clothing and other material goods, giving money is often the most efficient and expedient means to help.  The following are accepting donations for aid. They or affiliates will provide to those affected by the deadly tsunami in Asia.

American Red Cross
International Response Fund
PO Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
800-HELP-NOW
www.redcross.org

AmeriCares
88 Hamilton Ave.
Stamford, CT 06902
800-486-4357
www.americares.org

Baptist World Aid
Asia Tidal Waves
405 North Washington St.
Falls Church, VA 22046
703-790-8980
www.bwanet.org/bwaid

CARE
151 Ellis Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30303-2440
800-521-CARE
www.care.org Catholic Relief Services
209 West Fayette St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
800-HELP-CRS
www.catholicrelief.org

Doctors Without Borders/Medicines Sans Frontieres
PO Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
888-392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Scientists fault warning efforts on tidal waves

Asian officials conceded Monday that they failed to issue broad public warnings immediately after a massive undersea earthquake, an act that could have saved countless lives from the subsequent giant waves that smashed into 10 countries.
But governments insisted they did not know the true nature of the threat because there was no international system in place to track tidal waves in the Indian Ocean — an area where they are rare — and they can’t afford to buy sophisticated equipment to build one.
And what warnings there were came too little, too late.  The magnitude 9.0 earthquake — the largest in 40 years — shifted huge geological plates beneath the sea northwest of Sumatra island, causing a massive and sudden displacement of millions of tons of water.
Indonesia villages closest to the temblor’s epicenter were swamped within minutes, but elsewhere the waves radiated outward, gathering speed and ferocity until they made landfall.
Waves began pummeling southern Thailand about one hour after the earthquake. After 2½ hours, the torrents had traveled some 1,000 miles and slammed India and Sri Lanka. Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, and Bangladesh were also hit. Eventually they struck Somalia, on the east coast of Africa.
The death toll Monday stood at more than 23,000, with millions left homeless.  Indonesian officials said they had no way to know that the earthquake had caused the earthquake-driven waves, or tsunamis, or how dangerous they might have been.
“Unfortunately, we have no equipment here that can warn about tsunamis,” said Budi Waluyo, an official with Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. “The instruments are very expensive and we don’t have money to buy them.”