Natural Disasters Cost Insurers $120 Billion In 2021 – Munich Re – Cryptovibes.com – Daily Cryptocurrency and FX News
https://ift.tt/3zL2Xen
Summary
- Second-most costly year for insurers
- Tally is higher than the Swiss Re estimate in December
- The U.S. accounts for a high portion of losses
- Climate change to result in more extreme weather
On January 10, Munich Re said that 2021 proved to be the second-most costly year on record for the world’s insurers, marked by devastating hurricanes and cold snaps in the United States. Weather analysts and experts warned that extreme weather was more likely caused by climate change.
Second, only to the $146 billion in damages during the hurricane-ridden year of 2017, last year’s insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled around $120 billion. Compared to an estimate of $105 billion that competitor Swiss Re published last month, Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer, gave a higher annual tally.
Ravaged by dozens of tornadoes in December, and by Hurricane Ida and freezes in Texas earlier in the year, Munich Re said that the U.S. accounted for an unusually large portion of the losses. Torsten Jeworrek, a member of Munich Re’s board said:
“The images of natural disasters in 2021 are disturbing. Climate research increasingly confirms that extreme weather has become more likely.”
In line with previous years, nearly 10,000 people died from natural catastrophes. The total losses were $280 billion, including those not covered by insurance, the fourth-highest on record.
Resulting in $36 billion in insured losses, Hurricane Ida, damage from which stretched from New Orleans to New York. Around $15 billion in losses were caused by the winter storm that primarily hit Texas. In Germany, floods cost billions too.
Ernst Rauch, Chief Climate and Geo-Scientist at Munich Re said:
“The 2021 disaster statistics are striking because some of the extreme weather events are of the kind that are likely to become more frequent or more severe as a result of climate change.”
As the Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm through the next decade and beyond, events in 2021 were exacerbated by climate change, many scientists agree, and that there is more – and worse – to come.
The year 2017, with hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, has been the costliest year on record. The years 2011 and 2005, when big earthquakes hit Japan and New Zealand, and when Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans respectively, were also severe.
As a result of the increasing likelihood of disasters, insurers have in some cases been raising the rates they charge and in some places have stopped providing coverage. Insurers themselves are under pressure from activists to stop insuring dirty industries, as they warn about climate change and the costs associated with it.
Cryptocurrency
