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Man-made and natural disasters have generated worldwide economic losses of $222 billion this year, more than three times last year's figure, the world's biggest reinsurer, Swiss Re, estimated Tuesday. In the first nine months of this year, climate-related disasters killed 21,000 people, more than double the number in 2009, an Oxfam report said. This year's major catastrophes claimed 260,000 lives, most of them in the deadly Haiti earthquake, which killed more than 222,000 people. Other disasters with high casualty rates included a heat wave in Russia that left about 15,000 dead and summer floods in China and Pakistan that killed 6,225, according to Swiss Re. Yet despite the threefold jump in economic losses, the impact on insurers rose just 34 percent from a year ago, to $36 billion, as the most devastating disasters occurred in regions with little insurance coverage. It was the earthquake in Chile alone that left the insurance industry with the biggest bill: $8 billion. Agencies |
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