POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) – Weather-related disasters and earthquakes are likely to make 2008 the second most costly year for insurers after 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, a leading insurer said on Wednesday. Losses in 2008 are around $160 billion so far, Thomas Loster, chair of Munich Re Foundation, told Reuters on the sidelines of December 1-12 climate talks in Poznan, Poland. He said it was likely to have been surpassed only by 2005, when Katrina contributed to losses of $220 billion. Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in May, was the most deadly event of 2008 so far, claiming an estimated 84,500 lives. The most costly was May’s earthquake in China. Munich Re said in a study with the U.N. Environment Programme that weather-related disasters seemed to be on the rise, in line with forecasts by the U.N. Climate Panel that blames mankind for global warming. "Since the 1980s, earthquakes have risen by around 50 percent but weather-related hazards such as major floods have increased by as much as 350 percent and those from wind storms have doubled," the report said.
2008 one of worst years for disaster losses: insurer
Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:27:05 GMT
