Experts Urge Expanding Catastrophe Insurance Into Disaster Prevention

People's Daily reported that experts attending a sub-forum at the 2026 Financial Street Forum annual conference called for accelerating the improvement of the catastrophe insurance protection system and extending insurance services from post-disaster economic compensation toward pre-disaster risk prevention. Following an earthquake in Baqing County, Nagqu, Xizang, the National Financial Regulatory Administration activated a level-three disaster relief emergency response for the insurance industry, while the Xizang Financial Regulatory Bureau initiated a level-two banking and insurance disaster response to coordinate claim settlements. Technological advancements in satellite remote sensing, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and big data are providing additional methods for monitoring natural disasters, assessing risks, and forecasting losses, helping insurance institutions identify high-risk zones. To diversify domestic catastrophe risks, China Reinsurance issued catastrophe bonds in the Bermuda market in 2015 covering mainland earthquake risks, and later issued bonds in Hong Kong in 2021 covering typhoon risks in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Industry observers stated that catastrophe risk securitization remains in an exploratory development stage, requiring sustained research into improving foundational data, optimizing product designs, establishing reasonable triggering conditions, and attracting long-term capital.