The risk assessment of urban hail damage on automobiles in China

The hail disaster occur frequently in China, with the rapid growth of the holding of the automobiles, more and more scholars began to pay attention to the hail damage to automobiles. Based on the hail database (1949–2008) of 258 cities in China, the risk assessment of urban hail damage to automobiles was carried out by using the GIS technology and disaster system theory, and the map of hail hazards rank, the map of automobiles vulnerability rank, as well as the map of hail risk to automobiles were outlined. The result indicates: (1) The highly dangerous cities are distributed in Yangtze River Delta Area and around BoHai Sea area, while the Pearl River Delta area is relatively low. (2) The vulnerability of cities in the Eastern Region is higher than the Western Part. (3) Thirty-three cities are in the high risk rank, accounting for 12% of Chinese cities, which mainly concentrate in Yangtze River Delta Area and around BoHai Sea area. This research may provides the scientific basis for insurance company in hail damage on automobiles.