July 16, 2008

Insurers, Brokers and Agents Coalesce Around Catastrophe Program; Momentum Builds for Quick Action on CAT Program

The announcement that Travelers Companies, Inc, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and organizations representing many of America's insurance agents and brokers have endorsed a comprehensive reform program to better prepare and protect American families from catastrophe is a signal that the urgent need to take action before the next catastrophe strikes has been recognized more broadly across the traditional private insurance industry, according to the nation's leading coalition of catastrophe response and recovery experts.

'Clearly, the past differences of opinion and resistance to change within the insurance industry about how we can best prepare and protect American families from the devastation of natural catastrophes have been overcome by the stark reality that the current system is broken and that we need to act now, before the next catastrophe strikes,' said Robert W. Porter, executive director of ProtectingAmerica.org.

'Our organization sees the endorsement of a comprehensive catastrophe program to improve preparation and mitigation and to create a national financial backstop as a positive step forward; a step that may inspire state and federal policymakers to embrace the program that we have been advocating for the past three years,' Porter said.

ProtectingAmerica.org was formed in 2005 and is a non-profit organization consisting of emergency management officials, first responders, disaster relief experts, insurers and others. Its members include the American Red Cross, more than 300 other organizations and businesses and more than 15,000 individuals from across the nation.

ProtectingAmerica.org is chaired by James Lee Witt, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and by Admiral James M. Loy, former deputy secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security and former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

At the core of ProtectingAmerica.org's mission is the establishment of a comprehensive, integrated national catastrophe management solution that will better prepare and protect American families, communities, consumers and the American economy from catastrophe. Among its efforts to support this mission, ProtectingAmerica.org is working to increase public awareness and consumer education; advocate for better coordination with local, state and federal mitigation and recovery efforts, and strengthen emergency response and financial mechanisms to rebuild after a major catastrophe.

For more information about ProtectingAmerica.org, please visit www.ProtectingAmerica.org.