Catastrophe Claims Response
The organized deployment of adjusters, vendors, and triage protocols to manage a surge of claims following a natural disaster or large-scale loss event.
industryPublished 2026/06/07Last verified 2026/06/07
FAQs
- What triggers a carrier to declare a catastrophe event?
- Most carriers declare a CAT event when an occurrence meets a predefined threshold — commonly 25 or more claims arising from the same event, or when the event is designated a catastrophe by a recognized organization such as ISO/PCS (Property Claim Services).
- How do reinsurers get notified of catastrophe events?
- Reinsurance treaties include prompt reporting provisions that require the ceding carrier to notify the reinsurer when a CAT event is likely to result in treaty losses. Brokers typically coordinate this notification process.
- What role does aerial imagery play in modern CAT response?
- High-resolution aerial and satellite imagery, analyzed by AI, allows carriers to assess damage across thousands of properties within hours of an event. This enables rapid prioritization, earlier reserve setting, and more efficient field adjuster deployment.
Related Terms
Independent Adjuster
A claims professional working as an independent contractor hired by insurers on a fee or per-claim basis to investigate, evaluate, and settle claims.
Bulk Reserving
A reserving method applying statistical factors to groups of claims rather than setting individual case reserves, used for high-volume low-severity lines.
Case Reserving
The process of establishing a specific dollar reserve for an individual open claim, representing the estimated total cost to resolve that claim.
SIU Referral
The process of routing a suspicious claim to the Special Investigations Unit for investigation of potential fraud before settlement.