The reader faces the 14th issue of our digital magazine, in which new items related to the main actors dealing with the management of risks aligned with the activities and functions of Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS) are presented. These actors have important roles in both catastrophic risk and automobile insurance. Other articles published in this issue delve further into matters already considered previously, bringing more complete information or new perspectives in accordance with the evolution of the editorial line of this magazine.
The cover article is an analysis of flood loss data in Spain at the municipal level, jointly written by the Expertise and Studies Sub-Directorates from CCS. It provides a global overview and an unprecedented level of detail concerning damage from fluvial and pluvial flooding that has been indemnified by CCS, as well as a viewer for these data.
The objectives and functions of the AON Foundation's Catastrophe Observatory are described in another contribution by its president, Pedro Tomey. This initiative is now in its fifth year and offers a platform that brings together the insurance sector, catastrophe management, and knowledge generation and management in those fields, in which the CCS plays an active role.
In another article closely connected with the previous one, given their compromise with the Catastrophe Observatory, two distinguished members of the Unidad Militar de Emergencias, the Spanish Military's Disaster Relief Unit, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Serra and Lieutenant Colonel Javier Barranco, describe the functions and activities of that important institution, one of the first responders to serious catastrophes.
The Scientific Coordinator of the Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias [Canary Island Volcanology Institute] (INVOLCAN), Nemesio Pérez, describes volcanic risk and certain aspects relating to managing that risk in the context of the Canary Islands, being this item a novelty for this magazine.
Delving further into risk management, this issue also contains a contribution by Aránzazu Gurrea-Nozaleda and her colleagues at the Dirección General del Agua [DG for Water] dealing with that Office's initiatives aimed at identifying and lessening flood risk, focusing especially on a pilot project that offers municipalities in the Cartagena County, one of the areas in Spain most affected by flood risk, as shown in the cover article, direct subsidies to undertake projects to reduce the vulnerability of existing buildings and infrastructure.
The last of the articles on natural perils and their management is a contribution by Mónica Sánchez Bajo, of the Oficina Española de Cambio Climático [Spain’s Office for Climate Change], commenting on a monograph issued by the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge on "Impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change by the insurance industry", the first of its kind and reach on the subject in Spain. This contribution also highlights the main aspects of the new National Climate Change Plan, 2021-2030, with a special focus on insurance activity.
Three additional articles in this number of the magazine deal with the important roles played by the CCS in the field of motor vehicle insurance. José María Cancer, Director General of CESVIMAP, the Centre for Experimentation and Traffic Safety of MAPFRE, describes the centre's objectives, activities, and facilities for increasing road safety and streamlining and expediting the processing and repair of damaged vehicles. Another contribution, by the CCS’ Deputy-Director for the Technical Area and Reinsurance, Belén Soriano, reviews statistics concerning the CCS's activities in connection with Compulsory Motor car Third-Party Liability Insurance. An article by José Antonio Badillo, the CCS' Regional Representative in Madrid, considers case law relating to motor vehicle insurance and discusses a recent judgment by the Spanish Supreme Court bearing on standing as an injured party in traffic accidents.
