Enhancing homeowners' and insurance industry's risk management and preparedness for low-frequency high-consequence earthquakes in the Saint Lawrence region

地震对圣劳伦斯地区(即渥太华-蒙特利尔-魁北克市走廊)的房主构成了潜在的重大风险。该地区的许多房主没有为他们的房屋购买地震保险，最近的调查表明，大多数魁北克房主没有意识到他们的一般保险单不包括地震损失。如果该地区发生毁灭性地震，房主将变得脆弱、得不到保护，并非常沮丧。为了解决这一重要问题，与减少灾害损失研究所(ICLR)结成了一个多机构小组(WESTERS、McMaster和McGill)，将地质学、地球物理学、地震学、地震工程、灾难建模和金融分析方面的跨学科专业知识和互补技能汇集在一起。我们将开发新的区域地震风险模型，通过纳入最新的地貌数据和地球物理模拟结果，并考虑与地震破裂情景相关的不确定性，量化圣劳伦斯地区房主和保险业的预期和上尾金融地震风险。开发的风险模型的结果将用于改进目前的地震保险风险政策，方法是设计一种新的办法，加强圣劳伦斯地区房主的财务准备。最终，这一联盟伙伴关系将促进加拿大采用和推进地震复原力和备灾能力，使之与国际减灾战略的仙台减少灾害风险框架相协调。

Earthquakes pose potentially substantial risks to homeowners in the region of Saint Lawrence (i.e., Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City corridor). Many homeowners in the region have not purchased earthquake insurance for their homes, and recent surveys suggest that most Quebec homeowners are unaware that their general insurance policies do not cover earthquake damages. If a devastating earthquake were to occur in the region, homeowners would be left vulnerable, unprotected, and very frustrated. To address this important problem, a multi-institutional team (Western, McMaster, and McGill) was formed by bringing together interdisciplinary expertise and complementary skills in geology, geophysics, seismology, earthquake engineering, catastrophe modelling, and financial analysis, in strong partnership with Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR). We will develop new regional earthquake risk models that can quantify the expected as well as upper-tail financial seismic risks of homeowners and the insurance industry in the Saint Lawrence region by incorporating the latest geomorphological data and geophysical modelling results and by accounting for uncertainties associated with earthquake rupture scenarios. The results from the developed risk models will be used to improve the current earthquake insurance risk policies by informing the design of a new approach that will enhance the financial preparedness of homeowners in the Saint Lawrence region. Ultimately, this Alliance partnership will promote the adoption and advancement of seismic resilience and preparedness in Canada in harmony with the UNISDR's Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction.