Munich Re will soon unveil a new earthquake risk model for Indonesia, which will incorporate new levels of technical data following the events of 2006.

The largest natural disaster in the region last year in terms of human life was an earthquake which hit the area surrounding the city of Yogyakarta on the Indonesian island of Java. On 27 May, a force 6.3 quake shook the densely populated but economically less developed region around the country with the loss of 5,750 people were killed and leaving a million others. 154,000 houses were destroyed and the economic loss totalled US$ 3.1 billion. Munich Re said the new model would be produced in the Spring and the new data combined with sophisticated modelling software would give underwriters a far more accurate assessment of risk exposures.