Source: US space agency Nasa (click on imag to view larger)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The unusually high number of very severe weather events in the United States in April and May of this year will cost Zurich Re at least $295 million, for both Zurich North America and Farmers Re, the company says in a 20 June statement.
This initial estimate, net of reinsurance and pre-tax, will be recorded in its half-year results, which appear 15 August. It notes of the weather events that the “severity and frequency [were] well above past industry experience”.
Tornadoes are more common in the US than in any other country, with about 1,200 a year on average, according to Wikipedia.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Natural catastrophes and manmade economic disasters cost the world $218 billion in 2010, more than three times the cost in 2009, Swiss Re, the Zurich reinsurer, said 29 March.
The loss of lives, 308,000 people, was the highest since 1976 and far higher than the 2009 figure of 15,000 lives lost, worldwide.
Earthquakes alone accounted for one-third of the financial cost.
A number of severe catastrophes claimed huge numbers of lives: “the deadliest event in 2010 was the Haiti earthquake in January, which claimed more than 222 000 lives. Nearly 56 000 people died during the summer heatwave in Russia. The summer floods in China and Pakistan also resulted in over 6 200 deaths”, according to Swiss Re, which insures insurance companies.
The cost to the insurance industry was $40b for natural catastrophes and $3b for manmade disasters.
Ten events at more than $1 billion each:
“The two biggest insured losses were caused by earthquakes – the February earthquake in Chile (USD 8 billion) and the September earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand (USD 4.4 billion). The third costliest event was winter storm Xynthia in Western Europe, which led to insured losses of USD 2.8 billion. Three storms in the US and two storms in Australia also generated losses of over USD 1 billion.
“Property claims from the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico are estimated at USD 1 billion. Given the complexity of the claims, the latter figure is still subject to substantial uncertainty. The overall insurance loss is higher, as liability losses are not included [in the report].”
Hydro-meteorological events mainly accounted for the increase in the number of natural disasters over the last 30 years. Source: Münchener Rückversicherungs- Gesellschaft, Geo Risks Research, NatCatSERVICE
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland will take part Thursday 10 February in a special UN debate in New York on global disaster reduction as part of its determination to play an increasingly stronger role in the field, a key part of Switzerland’s foreign relations programme.
The debate focuses on how to take better account of disasters in development and investment work.
It will be followed in May by a session in Geneva of the GFPDRR: the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery.
Switzerland, which has for centuries suffered its own heavy losses to nature from floods, mudslides, avalanches and more, was one of the first countries to set up a national platform on natural hazards, Planat.
One-fifth world’s surface regularly hit by natural disasters
Switzerland noted in a 2010 report on its disaster reduction efforts efforts that half the world’s population is “under threat from the forces of nature” and “one-fifth of the of the world’s surface is regularly hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, drought and storms.
There are indications that the number of natural catastrophes is rising. In view of population growth, these disasters pose a large risk to a growing number of people and entail increasing costs. Developing countries are particularly affected.”
The report assesses the effectiveness of three decades of disaster risk reduction work by the Swiss, overseen by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Some 60 percent of funds go to supporting and increasing the capacity of partner agencies, to help them identify and manage risks and disasters that occur. The other 40 percent funds policy development, awareness raising and specific risk reduction.
Aid appreciated, but need for disaster prevention less understood
The largest hurdle, the report notes, is convincing people of the need for prevention. The SDC, says the report, must now “focus more on the so-called side-effects of DRR (disaster risk reduction) . . . improved livelihoods, better energy supplies and other direct benefits. Because the SDC runs both development cooperation and humanitarian projects, the organization has sufficient capacities and experience to focus efforts on DRR as a model approach to bridge development cooperation and humanitarian aid operationally.”
The SDC’s work is designed to help “other countries to achieve a higher level of security by implementing measures to prevent natural disasters and by enhancing preparedness for when they strike”, it notes.
2010 equal to 2005 and 1998, confirms global warming trend
Extreme weather events listed but no direct link made
Australian desert (photo: ©2010 Peter Brodbeck, flickr)
(video, El Niño, La Niña) Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Those who thought 2010 was hotter than usual were right: it was one of the warmest years on record, sharing the top hot slot with 2005 and 1998, the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) said in Geneva 20 January.
But if you were sitting in Scandinavia or the eastern US in December 2010 you’ll be right in thinking you’ve just experienced exceptional cold, with parts of Norway and Sweden having temperatures -10C below normal.
Eastern Canada and Greenland had unusually warm weather in December, however.
Higher temperatures did not affect the world evenly, but 2010 was exceptionally warm in much of Africa, southern and western Asia, Greenland and Arctic Canada, “with many parts of these regions having their hottest years on record” since the start of what the WMO calls instrumental climate records.
Greenland's snow and ice suffered from unusually warm weather in Decembe 2010
“The 2010 data confirm the Earth’s significant long-term warming trend,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. “The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998.”
The WMO is a United Nations organization that provides a place where member states’ national weather and meteorological services work together.
Arctic sea-cover at all-time low in December
Swiss Re and Zurich Financial report earnings
This fire will likely cost $200m to Swiss Re
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance companies, reported profits up 22 percent to $158 million (CHF175m) during the first three months of 2010, despite several natural disasters around the world.
This is the first time that Swiss Re has reported its figures in dollars instead of Swiss francs, saying that more than half of its business is now written in dollars.
The earthquake in Chile cost it $500m and the European winter storm Xynthia $100m.
The Gulf oil spill from the fire and sinking of the Deep Horizon oil rig is likely to cost it $200m, Swiss Re says, while noting that the situation is still unfolding and these are early estimates.
Overall, it expects the Gulf spill, for which British oil company BP is financially responsible, to cost insurers $1.5-2 billion.
Update: Another Swiss insurer, Zurich Financial Services also reported Q1 profits in spite of natural disasters such as the Chilean earthquake, during the first trimester of the year.
ZFS’s net income more than doubled in comparison to Q1 last year, to $935 million. The chief financial officer Dieter Wemmer said in a written statement that the 76% increase was fueled by the “successful integration process of recent acquisitions in the US and emerging markets.”
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Le Temps (Fre), Swiss Re, and Zurich Financial
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus and five in Southeast Asia are implementing early warning systems to protect against weather-related events, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Today 14 October is International Day for Disaster Reduction, and the agency is highlighting how early warning and disaster risk reduction can save many lives when extreme weather strikes. Similar projects were introduced in seven southeast European countries in 2007.
These national and regional cooperation projects are part of a concerted programme that relies on technical expertise and funding provided by the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Natural hazards are a part of life. But natural hazards only become disasters when people’s lives and livlihoods are swept away…” (Kofi Annan, World Disaster Reduction Day, 2003)
Lake Geneva
Complete coverage of the WCC-3 by GenevaLunch
Conference is 31 August – 4 September 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva is home this week to a key global conference on how the world can adapt to climate change – disasters such as floods and hurricanes, but also the more subtle changes that affect agriculture, tourism and daily life.
The conference agenda is wide-ranging and includes improvements to early warning systems for disasters and how to provide more precise and more localized weather forecasting, needed by developing countries as well as industries in the developed world.
The meeting is hosted by Switzerland and organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and a group of partners.
