 He is one of the leading contributors to the creation of the class of catastrophe models that over the past 20 years has come to be an accepted part both of business management in financial services and of public policy making for societal risk.Coburn's field damage surveys include Irpinia in Italy, the Spitak in Armenia, Mexico City, Erzurum-Kars in Turkey, San‘ā’ () in Yemen, Luzon, Philippines, Gujarat in India, Kobe in Japan, and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Coburn married Helen Mulligan in 1987; they have a son and a daughter and lives near Cambridge, England.