Frequency is not rising. Impact is

On 10 August, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Chocó, Colombia — the largest the country has experienced so far this century, with a human toll that hurts us as an industry and as a region. Our first thoughts are with the affected communities and with the emergency teams still working on the ground.

That earthquake was the tenth of magnitude 7.0 or greater recorded worldwide during 2026, according to the USGS: Malaysia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Venezuela (twice), Mexico and Colombia.

And here is the figure we believe is worth sharing as advisers: 10 events by 10 August sit within natural variability, not above it. The long-run average is 16 M7+ earthquakes a year, and the USGS itself cautions against reading short-term clusters as evidence of rising global seismic activity.

What is growing is the impact. More people and high-value assets concentrated in exposed areas, together with higher rebuilding costs, are pushing insured losses up by 5–7% in real terms each year: from US$141 billion in 2024 to a projected US$186 billion by 2030 (Swiss Re Institute). And in emerging economies, between 80% and 90% of catastrophe losses remain uninsured.

The industry answers that gap with coordination: insurers, reinsurers, clients and loss adjusters working together so that claims payments arrive when they are most needed. Where traditional reinsurance capacity is scarce, parametric solutions close protection gaps and trigger fast payouts after the event.

At NEXO RE we track global seismic behaviour with data, not headlines, because understanding the difference between frequency and impact is what allows us to design reinsurance programmes that genuinely protect what matters most.