Avalanche (Lawinen)
Avalanche is a natural hazard peril in which falling masses of snow or ice damage buildings, infrastructure, and people, and is offered in mountainous regions as an extension of natural hazard cover.
Concept
Avalanche refers to falling masses of snow, ice, or debris on slopes that can damage or destroy buildings, infrastructure, and agricultural land. As a natural hazard peril, it is one of the regionally concentrated natural perils that is primarily relevant for insurance purposes in alpine and mountainous regions.
Insurance Treatment
Avalanche damage is generally offered under homeowners and contents insurance as part of natural hazard cover, together with other natural perils such as flood, earthquake, and landslide, and frequently requires a separate extension for an additional premium. Because of the strong regional concentration of risk, insurers assess a location’s avalanche exposure using hazard zone maps.
Relevance for Reinsurance and Risk Modeling
As with other spatially concentrated natural perils, accumulation control plays an important role for avalanche risk among reinsurers, who use corresponding natural catastrophe models in heavily exposed alpine regions to assess the maximum possible loss potential.