The United States bore the brunt of last year's
natural disasters, accounting for two-thirds of 160 billion dollars
in worldwide damages, Munich Re said Thursday.
The German company and world's largest reinsurance group said
superstorm Sandy caused 50 billion dollars in damage. Drought, Sandy
and other disasters in the US caused 67 per cent of last year's
global disaster damage.
However, the global total for natural disaster losses was down
from 400 billion dollars in 2011.
In an average year, the US accounts for 32 per cent of worldwide
damage, partly a reflection of the high value of its property. Munich
Re said that if it had not been for Sandy, which slammed into New
York on October 29, it would have been an exceptionally safe year.
It said the worldwide death toll from last year's disasters was
9,500, compared with the average of 106,000 annually over the past
decade.
Munich Re said this was because comparatively few disasters hit
developing or emerging nations, where death tolls from a storm or an
earthquake are generally far higher than when a wealthy nation is
hit.
Typhoon Bopha in December in the Philippines was the worst single
event with more than 1,000 deaths.
