Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Flood Insurance Measured

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SAO PAULO, Sep 23 2006 (IPS) - Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo have developed a method to estimate insurance costs for urban flooding, saying claims could eat up as much as 12 percent of the gross domestic product. The new calculation technique combines data on rains, water flow and economic analyses of water basins to estimate the impact of these phenomena and optimize the management of resources invested in insurance.

“We are not out to compete with U.S. and European methodologies; we just want to establish excellent human resources in Brazil and the Americas, to adequately address the needs of society,” Eduardo Mario Mendiondo, the study's coordinator, told Tierramérica.

The methodology has already been tested in an experimental urban watershed, and is currently being studied in similar basins in Sao Paulo and the northeast region of Brazil.