2003 Was ?Moderate' Cat Year: Swiss Re

2003 Was ?Moderate' Cat Year: Swiss Re

Insured property losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2003 amounted to about $17 billion, Swiss Re reported. That figure is significantly less than recent record years?such as the $36 billion (including Hurricane Andrew) in 1992; the $35 billion, including 9/11 losses, in 2001; and the $34 billion, including storms Lothar and Martin, in 1999, noted Swiss Re.

In the United States, the worst catastrophes in terms of insured losses were: the tornadoes and hailstorms that hit the Midwest in May, $3.2 billion; the California wildfires in October, $2.1 billion; and Hurricane Isabel along the Atlantic Coast in September, $1.7 billion.

Total losses, insured and uninsured, for all catastrophes worldwide were $65 billion. Among the worst of these was Typhoon Maemi, which battered South Korea in September and caused $6 billion in damages.

Swiss Re also recapped the catastrophes that caused the most loss of life: 2,266 dead from the May earthquake in Algeria that hit 6.8 on the Richter scale; 1,392 lives lost due to a May heat wave in India; and 765 dead in the July capsizing of ferry in Bangladesh. Approximately 20,000 people lost their lives from 350 natural and man-made catastrophes in 2003, Swiss Re reported.