MUNICH (Reuters)
- The world was hit by a record number of natural disasters in
2000 and global warming and a rising population are likely to
make future years even worse, the world's largest reinsurer said
Thursday.
Munich Re
said the number of what it categorizes as natural disasters rose
by more than 100 to 850 in 2000, although the number of deaths
was much lower than in 1999 because less populated areas were
affected.
It said 10,000
people died as a result of natural disasters in 2000 compared
to 75,000 in 1999. Material damage was put atmore than $30 billion
in 2000.
``Accounting
for the growth in world population and the rise in the concentration
of property values, the losses caused by natural disasters must
be expected to continue to rise in the future,'' Munich Re said.
``Global warming
has to be slowed down. Otherwise the risk situation for insurers
in many of the world's regions will intensify,'' said Gerhard
Berz, head of its geo-science research group.
Munich Re
said that since only $7.5 billion of the estimated damage caused
by natural disasters in 2000 had been covered by insurance, it
had actually been a relatively inexpensive year for policy underwriters.
Storms were
clearly at the top of the list of disasters, accounting for 73
percent of all insured losses, while floods accounted for 23 percent
of insured losses.
Flooding which
hit Mozambique in February making half a million people homeless
was the year's biggest catastrophe.
A series of
devastating forest fires in the United States was the other major
disaster, causing losses of more than $1 billion despite the fact
that relatively few houses caught fire.
Dry weather
and drought in Europe caused losses of more than $300 million
when a severe heat wave in May and June destroyed crops in southeast
Europe, particularly in Romania.
The cyclone
season in the Pacific and North Atlantic produced a typical number
of hurricanes and typhoons and cyclones, it said. The countries
affected came off relatively lightly.
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