A new report from Zurich-based reinsurance giantSwiss Re finds that total economic losses fromdisaster events during the first six months of 2016 rose 38 percentto $71 billion, as compared with the same period in 2015.

The damage cost insurers $31 billion, a 51 percent increase fromlast year.

The leading causes of the losses were earthquakes in Japan,thunderstorms throughout much of the United States and Europe, andthe massive wildfires in Canada.

Natural catastrophes comprised $68B of losses

Of the $71 billion in economic losses, natural catastrophescomprised $68 billion of the losses, an increase of $22 billionover 2015. Thunderstorms were the leading cause of the losses inthe United States because of three separate weather eventsinvolving massive hail damage and high winds, which caused over $7billion in losses. An April storm in Texas resulted in $3.1 billionin insured losses primarily because of hail damage. Manmade insureddisasters accounted for $3 billion in covered losses, $2 billionlower than those in 2015.

In mid-April, multiple earthquakes shook Kumamoto, Japan, includingone 7.0-magnitude quake on April 16th, that produced widespreadstructural damage and building collapses, as well as fires, causing$5.6 billion in damage and killing 64 people. That same day,668 people were killed when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador, thesingle deadliest event for the first six months of 2016. Since sofew residents carried insurance, total insured losses were only$400 million.

Europe was not spared either. Several weather events in late Mayand early June caused significant flooding in France and Germany, resulting in$2.8 billion in covered losses.

Wildfires in the town of Fort McMurray, locatedin the Canadian province of Alberta, caused $2.5 billion in insuredlosses, one of the costliest insured wildfire events ever for theinsurance industry. The town is the epicenter of the country’s oilsands production. Some reports indicate that insured lossescould be closer to $3.6 billion.

While all of these events claimed 6,000 lives, that number ishalf of those lost in 2015, and well under the more than 300,000lives lost in events in 1970 (372,320), 1976 (305,539) and 2010(297,369) because of natural catastrophes.

Number of catastrophic events has dropped over past decade

There is some good news, as the number of catastrophic events hasactually dropped over the past 10 years. The number of manmadeevents has fallen from 257 in 2005 to 70 so far in 2016, while thenumber of natural catastrophes has dropped from a high of 161 in2005 to 81 to date.

The massive flooding in Louisiana and extensivewildfires in California, as well as a possibly more activehurricane season along the East Coast could significantly affectthese figures for the second half of the year.