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2013 insured losses from natural disaster total $45B: Study

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2013 insured losses from natural disaster total $45B: Study

Natural disasters caused insured losses of $45 billion in 2013, the lowest level since 2009 and 22% below the 10-year average, according to research published Monday by Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield Group Ltd.

In its “Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report,” Impact Forecasting said there were 296 separate natural disaster events in 2013 causing economic losses of $192 billion.

Insured losses from natural catastrophe events were down from $72 billion in 2012 and from the 10-year average of $58 billion, the report noted.

The largest global natural disasters in 2013 occurred in Asia and Europe, the report noted. But although just 16% of all economic losses occurred in the United States, 45% of all insured losses occurred there, the report noted.

The most costly insured loss of 2013 was flooding in Central Europe in May and June, which resulted in claims of about $5.3 billion and economic losses of $22 billion, according to the report.

Severe weather including hail in France and Germany in July resulted in insured losses of $3.0 billion; drought in the United States last January caused insured losses of $2.8 billion; severe weather in the United States in May caused insured losses of $2.0 billion; and flooding in Canada in June caused resulted in insured losses of about $1.7 billion, according to the report.

“Despite registering nine separate billion-dollar events, natural disaster losses in the United States were down 78% from 2012,” said Steve Bowen, a London-base senior scientist and meteorologist at Impact Forecasting, in a statement.

“The most significant losses in 2013 were found in Europe and Asia-Pacific, where each region endured multiple events that had major financial and societal implications,” he said.

The report is available here.