Crawford & Co. On the Scene in Southeast Asia

Atlanta-based Crawford & Co. has deployed adjusters and implemented its disaster team to add to the local staff in its Malaysian, Indonesian, and Thailand offices affected by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami which devastated the South Asia region and killed some 155,000 people.

Crawford is managing claims from international power and engineering
clients, leisure resort and hotel chains. At this time, Crawford has adequate resources to respond to claims locally and does not envision the need for non- Asian staff except when specialist’s expertise is required.

“Our Asian catastrophe plan was dispatched immediately following the
tsunami,” said Richard Martin, Crawford Asia Pacific regional managing director. “Our local offices are liaising with local authorities, insurers, and clients so as not to interfere with local recovery efforts. This also ensures that our clients receive the high level of service they’re accustomed to receiving from Crawford.”

Major industrial areas were unaffected and trade will be largely
unaffected by these tragic events. Crawford predicts that most of the claims it handles from the tsunami will be related to property damage, business interruption, and travel or life insurance. The catastrophe will not have a significant impact on the insurance market as much of the damaged property is not insured.

The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that occurred beneath the sea off the coast of Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. The tsunami caused extensive damage in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.