Risk of Meteorites Is Assessed

Munich Re, trying to gauge insurers’ potential exposure to risks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said a meteorite crash on Earth could lead to bigger-than-expected costs for the industry.

“The effects of a ‘bombardment from space’ are to be carried by the insurance industry to a larger degree than has hitherto been assumed,” Munich Re said. “This is because meteorite crashes will probably lead to explosions and fires which are covered in many insurance contracts nowadays.”

Munich Re said it started assessing meteorite risks after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Insurers stand to lose as much as $58 billion from the terrorist assault, Swiss Reinsurance Co., the world’s No. 2 reinsurer, said Wednesday.

“No one ever believed two planes would crash into a skyscraper, so we have started looking at what’s at all possible instead of what’s likely,” said Thomas Loster, Munich Re’s head of climate and natural disaster research.

Insurers may have to pay for meteorite-related damage because they’re defined as flying objects, like airplanes are, in most policies, Loster said. A flooding caused by a meteorite crashing into the sea also most likely would be covered.

There have been more than 100 cases of meteorites hitting Earth during the 20th century.