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According to statistics of the leading Reinsurance Company Munich Re: Severe typhoons in Japan and humanitarian tragedy caused by cyclones in Mozambique dominate the 2019 natural catastrophe picture.



(Source: Munich Re NatCatService)

According to statistics of the leading Reinsurance Company Munich Re: Severe typhoons in Japan and humanitarian tragedy caused by cyclones in Mozambique dominate the 2019 natural catastrophe picture.

According to statistics of the leading Reinsurance Company Munich Re, in 2019, 820 natural catastrophes caused overall losses of US$ 150bn and about 9,000 people lost their lives in natural catastrophes compared with 15,000 in 2018. This confirms the overall trend towards lower numbers of victims thanks to better prevention measures. On average over the past 30 years, about 52,000 people per year have lost their lives in natural catastrophes.

Torsten Jeworrek - Member of the Board of Management of Munich Re stated that the severe cyclones in 2019 have highlighted the importance of knowledge about changes in risk. Natural climate variations influence weather catastrophes from year to year. Longer-term climate change effects can already be felt and seen. Buildings and infrastructure must be made more resistant in order to reverse the increasing trend in losses.

Damages caused by Hagibis typhoon in Japan (Asahi)

As in 2018, Japan was again struck by very severe typhoons. Hagibis and Faxai were two equally severe tropical cyclones which hit the Tokyo area. While Faxai swept over Tokyo Bay with wind speeds of 170 km/h and made landfall in the city of Chiba, Hagibis struck further northwest, directly over the Yokohama-Tokyo conurbation. A special feature of Hagibis was extreme precipitation, even away from the centre of the storm. In places, as much as 1,000 millimetres of rain fell within two days (that is about 1,000 litres per square metre). In many municipalities, this represented 40% of the usual annual rainfall. Levees on many rivers were breached. Countless buildings were seriously damaged, and many industrial operations were flooded.

The cyclones were the two costliest natural catastrophes of the year in terms of both overall losses and insured losses. According to preliminary estimates, overall losses from Hagibis totalled US$ 17bn. Faxai caused estimated overall losses of about US$ 9bn.

This year’s typhoon season was again, as in 2018, subject to the “El Niño Modoki” effect, a particular phase of natural climate oscillation, which causes variations in water temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Under these conditions, typhoons steer more frequently towards Japan.

Mozambique after Cyclone Idai (AP)

The greatest humanitarian catastrophe of the year was Cyclone Idai, which hit Mozambique and neighbouring countries in March. More than 1,000 people died and hundreds of thousands lost everything they had. Idai struck the coastal port of Beira, Mozambique’s second-largest city (500,000 inhabitants). With wind speeds of approximately 170 km/h, the storm wrecked a huge number of mostly simple structures. In addition, the flood wave and heavy precipitation caused widespread flooding stretching into the flat hinterlands, destroying crops. Overall losses came to US$ 2.3bn. The losses in Mozambique correspond to about a tenth of its GDP – an enormous impact on a very poor country. Mozambique was hit by another cyclone, Kenneth, just a few weeks later.

These extreme consequences clearly show that, particularly in poor countries, human lives and hard-won economic growth must be better protected. UN organisations, the World Bank, companies (including Munich Re) and other institutions founded the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) in 2016, which supports insurance solutions for developing countries through the G7 “InsuResilience Global Partnership” initiative.

Bushfires raging in Australia, 31st Dec 2019 (AFP/TTXVN)

After the record losses of previous years, the wildfire season in California was less severe. A wet winter ameliorated summer drought conditions as compared with recent summers. There were still many fires, but they burned a much smaller area than the five-year average. Several fires threatened cities and millions of people lost electricity for days, as power was shut down as a precaution. Overall losses were US$ 1.1bn. Despite the lower losses in 2019, this does not change the sharply rising long-term trend for forest area burned and wildfire losses in the US.. 

The bushfire season in Australia has already been very severe. High temperatures and dry air, in combination with a great deal of flammable fuel due to a lack of precipitation during the cooler season, led extreme fires enveloped Australia in smoke; schools and government offices were temporarily closed. The losses from the fires were substantial, although the flames did not reach Sydney itself. However, the bushfire season is expected to continue during the midsummer months of January and February.

Munich Re emphasized that  Individual events cannot be directly attributed to climate change. Recent studies have shown, nonetheless, that in the long term the environmental conditions for bushfires have become more favourable – especially in the south and east of Australia. A combination of heatwaves and severe hailstorms were the greatest cause of losses in Europe. A long dry period led to crop losses in many countries. Overall losses from the summer storms in Europe were US$ 2.5bn.

Ernst Rauch commented: “Although hailstorms are localised, they can cause extreme damage and can even be life-threatening. Recent scientific studies have shown that we can expect hailstorms to increase in many regions as a consequence of climate change. It is also clear in this case: Measures such as better early-warning systems and more resistant building materials are important in order to mitigate against long-term increases in losses.”

 

Munich Re NatCatService