INMAG APR-MAY 2011-1:page layouts
8/4/11
11:03 AM
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Stranger in a strange land
International loss adjusters are helping out in Australasia’s disaster zones By Tania Martin
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ANSWERING CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE from the other side of the world is nothing new for a growing band of loss adjusters who travel from disaster zone to disaster zone. For Cunningham Lindsey’s Steve Zibilich, it’s not only the best job in the world, it’s also “the most amazing feeling” meeting and helping people anywhere he’s sent. The 47-year-old New Orleans native says loss adjusting is one of the few professions that can bring hope to people affected by devastation. And as a victim of Hurricane Katrina he knows just how these people are feeling. Mr Zibilich is just one of many international loss adjusters called in from around the world to help deal with the damage following the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi. Shortly after talking to Insurance News last month, he was heading off across the Tasman to help in the daunting task of asinsuranceNEWS
April/May 2011
sessing and managing repairs on thousands of buildings and homes in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch. He expects to spend at least the next three months in New Zealand, but says he goes wherever help is needed the most. On his first trip “Down Under” he says he has found Australia “one of the most wonderful and beautiful” countries he has visited, despite the devastation. “As a loss adjuster we see the worst parts of any place we visit, but here we have seen people who have had the worst thrown at them, but they are still the most polite and genuine people,” Mr Zibilich told Insurance News. “They want to help out their neighbours and they have a friendly view of their adjuster.” As a survivor of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which levelled large areas of New Orleans and killed 1836 people, he says