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Insurer Munich Re sees 2011 as record year for natural disasters
Jul 12, 2011, 10:32 GMT
Munich - The world's biggest reinsurer Munich Re said Tuesday that this year's string of major natural disasters have so far amounted to losses totalling 265 billion dollars.
Summing up developments so far this year, Munich Re said that 2011 was shaping up to be the most expensive year ever for the reinsurance business, which handles the risks of general insurers.
The earthquake and tsunami that hit in Japan in March alone resulted in economic losses of about 210 billion dollars.
This is more than the 125 billion dollars in economic losses resulting from the devastation caused in the US by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
But the series of disasters that engulfed Japan represented insured losses of about 30 billion dollars, which was about half the amount incurred because of Katrina, Munich Re said.
In addition to Japan, the insurance industry has been counting the costs of disasters such as a massive earthquake in New Zealand, devastating flooding in Australia along with a series of huge tornadoes in the US.
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