AIR Earthquake Engineer Selected to Lead Reconnaissance Team to Italy

January 1, 2011 / 2 min read

Boston, November 12, 2002 - AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR), the technological leader in catastrophe modeling and weather risk management, today announced that the company's manager of engineering analysis Dr. Paolo Bazzurro has been selected to lead a group of engineers organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) to Molise, Italy. The goal is to study the impact of earthquakes on buildings, transportation, utility systems and emergency response efforts.

EERI is also sending a reconnaissance team to Alaska. At magnitude 7.9, the earthquake that struck Alaska on November 3 was one of the largest recorded earthquakes in U.S. history. Because the quake struck a sparsely populated area, however, damage was minimal. In contrast, the earthquake that occurred in Molise, Italy on October 31 measured a moderate 5.9, but affected several towns and resulted in extensive damage and the loss of 29 lives. What has caught the attention of the EERI, as well as local officials, is why some newer buildings collapsed, while others, some centuries old, remained standing.

Dr. Bazzurro's team will examine the patterns of damage and try to determine their causes. The findings will be used by the EERI to help engineers prevent future destruction by examining new techniques to mitigate damage and loss of life from future earthquakes.

About AIR Worldwide Corporation
AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), is a leading catastrophe and weather risk modeling company. Through its web-based and computer software solutions (ClimateCastTM, CLASIC/2TM, CATRADER®, CATMAP®/2, AIRProfiler®), AIR services the insurance, reinsurance and capital markets. AIR's models simulate losses from both man-made and natural catastrophes in more than 35 countries. AIR is headquartered in Boston and has additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit the AIR website at www.air-worldwide.com.

About ISO
ISO is a leading source of information, products and services related to property and liability risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, ISO provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting and claims information and analyses; consulting and technical services; policy language; information about specific locations; fraud-identification tools; and data processing. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, self-insureds, risk managers, insurance regulators and other government agencies.

Release: Immediate

Contacts:
Giuseppe Barone / Erica Helton
MWW Group (for ISO)
201-507-9500
gbarone@mww.com / ehelton@mww.com

Mike Gannon (AIR)
617-267-6645
mgannon@air-worldwide.com