In 2010, Natural Disasters Killed 295,000 People and Cost $130 Billion
Natural disasters 'killed 295,000 in 2010'
The Associated Press, Jan. 3, 2011
The Haiti earthquake and floods in
Pakistan and China helped make 2010 an exceptional year for natural
disasters, killing 295,000 and costing $130 billion, the world's top
reinsurer said Monday.
"The high number of weather-related
natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in
different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing
climate change," said Munich Re in a report.
The last time so many people died in
natural disasters was in 1983, when 300,000 people died, mainly due to
famine in Ethiopia, spokesman Gerd Henghuber told AFP.
A total of 950 natural disasters were
recorded last year, making 2010 the second worst year since 1980. The
average number of events over the past 10 years was 785.
And in terms of economic cost, insured
losses amounted to approximately $37 billion, putting 2010 among the six
most loss-intensive years for the insurance industry since 1980.
"2010 showed the major risks we have to
cope with. There were a number of severe earthquakes. The hurricane
season was also eventful," said Torsten Jeworrek, the firm's chief
executive.
The earthquake in Haiti in January was
by far the worst disaster in terms of human cost, killing 222,570
people, Munich Re said. Some 56,000 died in a combination of heatwaves
and forest fires in Russia, it said.
The other most destructive events were
an earthquake in China in April that killed 2,700, floods in Pakistan
between July and September that cost 1,760 lives and August floods in
China in which 1,470 perished.
Although the Haiti earthquake resulted
in human devastation on a "staggering scale", it cost the industry very
little as very few people in the poverty-stricken country can afford
insurance.
However, an earthquake in Chile that hit
over a month later was the world's most expensive natural disaster last
year, with overall losses of 30 billion US dollars and insured losses
of eight billion US dollars.
The second most expensive disaster for
the insurance industry was a series of earthquakes that rattled New
Zealand, which cost an estimated 3.3 billion US dollars but caused no
deaths.
The global distribution of natural catastrophes in 2010 was however "comparable to that of previous years," Munich Re said.
The American continent suffered the most
disasters -- 365 in total -- with 310 in Asia. A total of 120 natural
disasters were recorded in Europe, 90 in Africa and 65 in Australia and
Oceania.
In 2009, considered a "benign" year due
to the absence of major catastrophes and a less severe than usual
hurricane season in the North Atlantic, there were 900 "destructive
natural hazard events", costing some 60 billion US dollars.
Around 11,000 people lost their lives in natural disasters in 2009, well below the average of 77,000.
Last month, another major reinsurer,
Swiss Re, reported that man-made and natural disasters generated
worldwide economic losses of 222 billion US dollars in 2010, more than
three times the figure for the previous year.
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