Hurricane Ian in the United States and flooding in Australia helped make 2022 one of the costliest years on record involving natural disasters, German reinsurer Munich Re said, warning that climate change was making storms more intense and frequent.
Losses from natural catastrophes covered by insurance totaled about $120 billion last year, similar to 2021, albeit below the record damages of 2017, said Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer.
Munich Re’s annual tally is higher than the average of $97 billion in insured losses over the past five years and beats the initial estimate of $115 billion last month released by rival Swiss Re.
“Climate shocks are increasing,” Ernst Rauch, chief climate scientist at Munich Re, told Reuters. “We cannot directly attribute any severe weather event to climate change. But climate change has made weather extremes more likely.”
Annual insured losses of $100 billion appear to be “the new normal,” he said.
Total losses from natural catastrophes, including those not covered by insurance, were $270 billion in 2022. This is down from around $320 billion in 2021 and the figure is close to the average of the last five years.
The United States, once again, accounted for most of the losses from Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in September, causing US$60 billion in insured damages and US$100 billion in total losses.
Floods in Australia earlier in the year and later in October resulted in $4.7 billion in insured damages and $8.1 billion in total.
Record monsoon rains and faster melting of glaciers resulted in floods in Pakistan that killed at least 1,700 people and caused $15 billion in damage. Most of the damage was not covered by insurance.
Scientists say the events in 2022 have been exacerbated by climate change and there is more to come and more to come as Earth’s atmosphere is expected to continue to warm over the next decade and beyond.
Insurers have, in some cases, increased the rates they charge as a result of the increased likelihood of disasters and, in some places, have stopped providing coverage.
Source: CNN Brasil
A journalist with over 7 years of experience in the news industry, currently working at World Stock Market as an author for the Entertainment section and also contributing to the Economics or finance section on a part-time basis. Has a passion for Entertainment and fashion topics, and has put in a lot of research and effort to provide accurate information to readers.
