Last decade most expensive for natural disasters: report

This post was originally published on this site

LONDON (Reuters) – The last decade was the worst on record for economic losses from natural disasters, amounting to $3 trillion – over a trillion more than the previous decade, insurance broker Aon (N:) said on Wednesday.

The Asia-Pacific region was the worst-hit in the 2010-2019 period, accounting for 44% of the total, with earthquakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones among the disasters, Aon said in a report.

More intense weather events, bigger populations in the path of disasters and greater supply chain disruption in a globalized economy contributed to the sharp rise in economic damage, Aon said.

“Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the last decade of natural disasters was the emergence of previously considered ‘secondary’ perils – such as wildfire, flood, and drought – becoming much more costly,” said Steve Bowen, director and meteorologist at Aon’s impact forecasting team.

“Scientific research indicates that climate change will continue to affect all types of weather phenomena and subsequently impact increasingly urbanized areas.”

Last year was the second warmest year on record for land and ocean temperatures, though Aon said economic and insured losses were lower than in the previous two years.

There were 409 natural catastrophe events totaling $232 billion in losses in 2019, with $71 billion covered by insurance programs, the report said.

The Aon 2019 estimates topped those by global reinsurer Munich Re (DE:), which said last week overall natural catastrophe losses were $150 billion, and insured losses $52 billion.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Add Comment