ABSTRACT
The primary focus of this paper is to improve the understanding of how the technical expertise provided by engineers and other risk reduction professionals is used in the process of managing financial risk associated with natural disasters. The technical expert plays an important role in providing both the information used in decisions and in creating and using the analytical tools needed to interpret the information. This paper provides an overview of how financial risk is managed by various sectors (who bears risk, how risk can be reduced, transferred or avoided) and how engineering expertise fits into this process. The discussion is intended to be helpful for engineering professionals in gaining a better understanding of how the financial and insurance communities manage risk, and in understanding how the information they provide to various clients is part of the larger process of financial risk management.
