natural catastrophe

Losses from natural catastrophes in 2015 resulted in just $27 billion of impact to the insurance and reinsurance industry, according to Munich Re, lower than the figure seen in 2014 and the lowest since 2009.

The port of Tianjin, China storage facility explosions is set to lead the way in 2015 as the largest single catastrophe or man-made disaster insurance industry loss, but the total for the year is set to come in well below average, at an estimated $32 billion, 48% below the long-term average.

Global catastrophe events during October are expected to incur economic losses of more than $10 billion, as historic flooding inundated South Carolina, typhoons impacted Asia and the record-breaking hurricane Patricia made landfall in Mexico, according to Aon Benfield.

The global insurance and reinsurance industry will pay for an above average percentage of economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in the first-half of 2015, according to reinsurer Swiss Re.

Economic losses suffered during June from the monsoon season in China led to the largest impact of the month, with almost $4 billion of impact to the Chinese economy, according to Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting unit.

2014 saw the highest number of natural catastrophe events that global reinsurance firm Swiss Re’s sigma unit has ever recorded, but despite the increasing frequency of loss events, the impact to insurance and reinsurance markets was below average.

As the world met in Sendai, Japan last week to discuss increasing global economic resilience against natural disasters, a new set of Economic Exposure Datasets (EEDs) was released by RMS, providing a more detailed view of potential global risks.

Information provided by the NOAA’s historical, severe weather event database unit, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), reveals that since 1980, 178 adverse weather events in the states have incurred costs between them surpassing $1 trillion.

Throughout 2014 a total of 258 natural disasters or catastrophes struck globally, causing total insured losses of $39 billion, a significant 38% dip below the ten-year average of $63 billion, according to Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting unit.

2014 global insured natural catastrophe losses came in at just $31 billion, down from $39 billion a year earlier, according to reinsurance firm Munich Re. Overall economic losses were down as well at $110 billion, compared to $140 billion in 2013.