reinsurance broker and subsidiary of Chicago-based insurance broker Aon Corp., in April. While paling in comparison to the earthquake losses in Japan, Aon Benfield says several severe weather events during March resulted in a significant number of claims.
In its March 2011 Monthly Cat Recap, Aon Benfield says the severe weather events resulted in 20,000 insurance claims in the Southeast and the Mississippi Valley with payouts exceeding $120 million.
Separate events at the end of the month were expected to cause at least tens of millions of dollars of further insured losses across the Southeast.
The report, published by Impact Forecasting, the firm's catastrophe modeler, highlights the Tohoku mega-earthquake and resultant tsunami that struck the northeastern coast of Japan on March 11.
To date the event has claimed more than 12,300 lives and injured nearly 3,000 people. At least 15,000 people officially remain listed as missing.
More than 830 aftershocks followed the main magnitude-9.0 tremor, and at least 203,000 homes and other structures were damaged or destroyed by ground shaking, tsunami waves, fires, or liquefaction, the report notes.
The Japanese government estimates total economic losses of $198 billion to $309 billion, while the World Bank estimates insured losses of $14 billion to $33 billion.
Tsunami waves from the Japan earthquake crossed the Pacific Ocean and caused a combined $88.4 million in damage to coastal locations of Hawaii and California in the U.S.
Additional tsunami damage to more than 500 homes was recorded in Peru and Chile.
In a statement, Steve Jakubowski, president of Impact Forecasting, says that Japan has long been regarded as a peak peril zone and “robust earthquake modeling tools have been developed for the region.” However, because of the tsunami, “loss assessment will be ongoing for the foreseeable future.”
He notes that at least 57 of the 830 aftershocks have been significant, with tremors measuring above magnitude 6.0.
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