2011 Now Costliest Year of Natural Disasters
For natural disasters, 2011 started with much of Queensland, Australia, swamped by rain-triggered flooding. Parts of Brisbane are seen here on Jan. 13. Munich Re, a multinational that insures insurance companies, calculated that the Australia flooding left $7.3 billion in economic losses, making it the fourth costliest natural disaster in the first half of 2011. The global bill was $265 billion, Munich Re said, well above the previous record of $220 billion in 2005. (Torsten Blackwood / AFP - Getty Images)
Expert: 'We are rewriting the financial and economic history of disasters on a global scale'
Natural disasters across the globe have made 2011 the costliest on record in terms of property damage, and that's just six months in, according to a report released Tuesday by a leading insurer that tracks disasters.
Moreover, that record builds on a trend of recent costly years -- which means more expensive insurance for consumers over the long haul.
The first six months saw $265 billion in economic losses, well above the previous record of $220 billion (adjusted for inflation) set for all of 2005 (the year Hurricane Katrina struck), according to Munich Re, a multinational that insures insurance companies.
Japan's earthquake and tsunami last March account for the biggest chunk ($210 billion), as well as most deaths (15,500 dead with 7,300 still counted as missing), but even without that cost factored in, overall losses still exceed the 10-year average, the company stated in its half-year review (PDF file).
After Japan, the costliest disasters so far this year were New Zealand's earthquake in February ($20 billion), the twister outbreak in the U.S. Southeast ($7.5 billion), and Australia's flooding in December-January ($7.3 billion).
2011 is "one for the record books," Bob Hartwig, head of the Insurance Information Institute, told reporters being briefed on the study. "We are rewriting the financial and economic history of disasters on a global scale."
For the United States, 98 events (storms, flooding, fires and earthquakes) left $27 billion in economic losses, more than double the 10-year average of $11.8 billion, Munich Re stated.
The total number of events is trending up as well: The first half of 2011 has already produced more events than most entire years before 2006, the company found.
The vast majority of U.S. damage, $23.5 billion, was from twisters and other severe storms. Twisters have also claimed nearly 600 lives this year.
2011 will go down as "the year of the tornado," predicted Carl Hedde, a risk analyst at Munich Re.