NU Online News Service
Natural and man-made catastrophes have caused an estimated $36 billion in losses for insurers in 2010, a 34 percent increase over last year, said Swiss Re.
This year was also the deadliest since 1976, with about 260,000 fatalities–about 222,000 coming from the earthquake in Haiti.
The economic losses are thought to be about $222 billion, more than three times the losses in 2009, the Zurich-based reinsurer said.
An ongoing European winter storm may increase the yearly total, said Swiss Re, but even now the estimated $36 billion insured loss total is higher than insured losses of $27 billion in 2009. However, claims totals are in line with the average of 20 years due to a relatively quiet–yet active–hurricane season.
The year's events "revealed large differences in how developed insurance systems are in the affected countries and how important insurance is in coping with the financial consequences of disasters," said Thomas Hess, chief economist at Swiss Re.
While the catastrophes in Chile, New Zealand and Europe were covered by insurance, the earthquake in Haiti and floods in Asia were not for the most part. These events landed among the most deadly of the year.
The year's costliest event for insurers was the Chilean earthquake, which is estimated to have caused $8 billion in insured losses.
Rounding out the top five costliest events in 2010 were: Winter Storm Xynthia in Europe at $2.85 billion; the New Zealand earthquake at $2.68 billion; and two wind and hail storms in the U.S. at about $2 billion and $1.58 billion, respectively.
The Deepwater Horizon oil disaster caused an estimated $1 billion in property claims, Swiss Re said. That figure is "subject to substantial uncertainty" because the claims are complicated. Liability claims are not included in the estimate, Swiss Re added. Man-made catastrophes like the oil spill contributed $5 billion to the estimated total insured losses for the year, the reinsurer said.
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