Are you taking a vacation this year? Almost a third of ourreaders responding to a recent poll at our website said theyweren't. If you are, good luck with that surfside fun, what withthe combination of beached oil balls from the BP spill andhurricane season. This year, Weather Services International expects20 named storms during the season, which ends in November.

Being from the Midwest where this isn't an issue, I find theconcept of trying to “ride out” a hurricane unthinkable, butapparently it's pretty common. According to a presentation for theNational Evacuation Conference, approximately 350,000 people didnot evacuate the area before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Arecent study by Foremost Insurance states that people do this for avariety of reasons–from denial to thinking their structures arestrong enough to withstand the impact, to being unable to evacuatebecause of age or ill health.

But as anyone in the insurance industry can tell you, hurricanesare only part of the natural disaster picture. This year has beenespecially illustrative of big things that can go wrong, from amassive earthquake in Chile, a powerful windstorm in Europe,flooding in the Midwest, and that pernicious oil spill in the GulfCoast. By the end of the first quarter, we'd already racked up $23billion in insured losses for global catastrophes, and that waseven before hurricane season.

Thismonth's cover story deals with catastrophes and naturaldisasters, and how cat modeling to help ameliorate the risk hascome of age during the last 20 years, not just for insurers, butagents and brokers as well. In March 1994, just a few months afterthe Northridge earthquake, only about 10 percent of propertyinsurers used catastrophe models. By 2009, more than 90 percent ofinsurers were using models, according to RMS.

We also take a peek at how automation efforts are advancing in theE&S market, where a convergence of players is creating anew urgency to win the war on keystrokes. There's also a story onhow you can get a leg up with the best carrier in the programsbusiness–all valuable information that can help you place coveragethat's beyond the ordinary.

If you haven't been to our website recently, please drop by.We've added to our departments a section dedicated to our nexGens Initiative (nGI) and coming soon, we'll be featuringnGI guest bloggers as well. Enjoy!