Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report: Impact ... - Aon

AnnuAl GlobAl Cli mAte And C AtAstroph e r e port
Figure 3: Top 10 Events In Terms Of Structural Damage In 2009
6
event date
event name or
type
9/26-9/30 Typhoon Ketsana
8/3-8/10 Typhoon Morakot
event location # of deaths
Philippines,
vietnam
Taiwan, China,
Philippines
# of structures/
Claims
economic loss
estimates (us$)
645+ 7.40+ million 1.03 billion
717+ 3.86+ million 5.04 billion
10/1-10/6 Flooding India 300+ 2.50+ million 4.00 billion
5/25 Cyclone Aila India, Bangladesh 330+ 1.02+ million 0.46 billion
1/24-1/25 Windstorm Klaus France, Spain, Italy 26+ 715,000+ 6.00 billion
7/9 Earthquake China 1+ 655,832+ 0.37 billion
7/17-7/22 Flooding India, Pakistan 81+ 500,000+ Unknown
9/1-9/14 Flooding West Africa 159+ 300,000+ Unknown
4/18-5/31 Flooding Brazil 54+ 300,000+ 1.65 billion
2/10-2/13 Severe Weather
Oklahoma, Texas,
Ohio valley
13+ 300,000+ 1.20 billion
Unlike recent previous years, 2009 failed to produce a single extreme insured loss event that topped US$5
billion. In 2008, Hurricane Ike, which made landfall in Galveston, Texas, caused more than US$12.55 billion
(in 2009 US$) in insured losses to not only coastal sections of Louisiana and Texas, but also far inland to states
in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. In 2007, Windstorm Kyrill battered portions of Germany, Britain,
Belgium and the Netherlands, costing insurers over US$6.26 billion (2009 US$). 2005 was the record-setting
year for insured losses, mainly due to three landfalling major hurricanes in the United States. Hurricane Katrina,
the costliest hurricane in history, produced insured losses that exceeded US$45.49 billion (2009 US$) across
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Hurricane Rita made landfall only a few weeks after Katrina and
produced insured losses of US$6.22 billion (2009 US$) in Louisiana and Texas. Finally, Hurricane Wilma raced
across central and southern Florida late in October, producing insured losses of US$11.40 billion (2009 US$).
Low insurance takeup rates in poorer sections of the world tend to lead to large economic loss events but
relatively low insured losses. For instance, Typhoon Morakot damaged or destroyed nearly 3.9 million structures
in Taiwan, China and the Philippines producing economic losses of over US$5 billion. According to official
governmental sources, however, insured losses as of early December 2009 have only amounted to US$100
million. As the September 30th West Sumatra earthquake demonstrated, the low takeup rate scenario for the
earthquake peril was once again an issue. The magnitude-7.6 earthquake damaged or destroyed over 249,800
structures in Indonesia, leading to economic losses of US$2.2 billion. However, due to the low takeup rate on
earthquake insurance across the region, insured losses were estimated at only US$40 million by the Indonesian
provincial governments, less than two percent of the economic loss total. Indonesian governmental agencies
estimated that reconstruction costs would be around US$860 million.