Sharp rises in the cost of natural catastrophes in 2011

According to Munich Re, the cost of natural catastrophes reached 265 billion USD for the first six months of 2011. This amount is five times as high as that of the average past decade (47.5 billion USD from 2001 to 2010). So far, the year 2005 was the hardest hit with 220 billion USD largely due to Hurricane Katrina.

The first six months of 2011 have been affected mainly by the tsunami in Japan (210 billion USD, 30 billion USD of which were accounted for by the insurance industry). Moreover, the February earthquake in Christchurch (New Zealand) amounted to 20 billion USD, about 10 billion USD of which being covered by insurers.