Development of a Prototype Hazard Component for a Typhoon Risk Model over Korea

Typhoons are a major threat to Korea and many parts of the world. Typhoons can cause loss of life, damage to buildings, industry and infrastructure. In order to objectively and quantitatively assess the risk presented by typhoons and other natural hazards, catastrophe models are often used, especially in the insurance industry. Catastrophe models determine the probability of occurrence of natural hazards at target locations, along with associated damage and other impacts. Catastrophe models can also be designed to estimate the financial cost of the natural hazard. As Korea’s insurance industry develops and grows, catastrophe models focused on Korea will be needed. We have initiated a project to develop a catastrophe model for Korea. The first phase of this project is to develop the natural hazard component which estimates the probability of storm tracks and associated wind speeds impacting the Korean peninsula and islands. We discuss a preliminary prototype of natural hazard component of the model in this paper.