Facts + Statistics: Global catastrophes

2019 natural catastrophes

Overall losses from world-wide natural catastrophes in 2019 totaled $150 billion dollars, roughly in line with the inflation-adjusted average of the past 30 year and down from $186 billion in 2018, according to Munich Re. There were 820 events that caused losses in 2019, compared with 850 events in 2018. Insured losses from the 2019 events totaled $52 billion, down from $86 billion in 2018. Natural catastrophes in 2019 caused about 9,000 deaths, compared with 15,000 in 2018.

Ranked by insured losses, the top two costliest natural catastrophe in 2019 were typhoons in Japan, according to Munich Re. The costliest, Typhoon Hagibis, resulted in $10 billion in insured losses, while Typhoon Faxai caused $7 billion in insured losses. Hurricane Dorian, which devastated areas in the Bahamas and affected the United States, ranked third with $4 billion in insured losses. Rounding out the top five catastrophes by insured losses were severe storms and flooding in the United States in May resulting in $3.6 billion in insured losses and a severe storm in October in the United States causing $2 billion in insured losses. The worst catastrophe ranked by the number of deaths was Cyclone Idai which struck Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa in March and caused more than 1,000 deaths.

World Natural Catastrophes, 2019

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World Natural Catastrophe Losses, 2019

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Top Five World Costliest Natural Catastrophes By Overall Losses, 2019

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Top 5 World Costliest Natural Catastrophes By Overall Losses, 2019 (1)

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Top Five World Costliest Natural Catastrophes By Insured Losses, 2019 (1)

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Top 5 World Costliest Natural Catastrophes By Insured Losses, 2019 (1)

(1) U.S. losses include the loss estimation based on Property Claims Services (PCS).

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Top Five World Natural Catastrophes By Fatalities, 2019

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Number Of World Natural Catastrophes, 1980-2018

(Number of relevant events by peril)

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Number Of World Natural Catastrophes, 1980-2018

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World Weather-Related Natural Catastrophes By Overall And Insured Losses, 1980-2018

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World Weather-Related Natural Catastrophes By Peril, 1980-2018

(Number of relevant events by peril)

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World Weather-Related Natural Catastrophes By Peril, 1980-2018

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Natural and Man-made Disasters

Swiss Re collects data on global insured losses resulting from both natural catastrophes and man-made disasters. Besides including man-made disasters, Swiss Re’s figures differ from Aon’s because Swiss Re uses different collection methods and criteria for classifying events. According to Swiss Re's December 2019 repor t on global losses, insured losses were estimated to total $56 billion in 2019, down from $93 billion in 2018, and below the previous ten-year average of $75 billion. In the second half of 2019, tropical cyclones resulted in higher losses after a quieter first half. The report notes that a number of smaller and medium-sized events, known as secondary perils, accounted for more than 50 percent of 2019’s insured losses. Secondary perils have a higher frequency when compared to catastrophes such as hurricanes and earthquakes and have low to medium severity; or they are events that occur as a secondary effect of a primary event, such as tsunami following an earthquake.

There were 292 disaster events in 2019, 193 of which were natural disasters and 99 were man-made events. Natural disasters accounted for $50 billion in losses, compared with $84 billion in 2018. Man-made disasters accounted for the remaining $6 billion in losses, compared with $9 billion in 2018. In 2019, 11,000 people worldwide perished or were missing in natural and man-made disasters. Tropical cyclones such as Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and North Carolina and typhoons Faxai and Hagibis in Japan drove natural catastrophe losses.

Nuclear incidents

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rates the severity of nuclear incidents on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) from one (indicating an anomaly) to seven (indicating a major event). The scale considers an event’s impact based on three criteria: its effect on people and the environment; whether it caused unsafe levels of radiation in a facility; and if preventive measures did not function as intended. Scales six and seven designate full meltdowns, where the nuclear fuel reactor core overheats and melts. Partial meltdowns, in which the fuel is damaged, are rated four or five.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency assigned a rating of seven to the March 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The 1986 Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union is the only other incident to rate a seven. The Chernobyl incident killed 56 people directly and thousands of others indirectly through cancer and other diseases. The 2011 incident released high amounts of radiation and caused widespread evacuations in affected areas but only one death to date.

The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the worst nuclear accident in the United States, was designated a five. Insurers paid about $71 million in liability claims and litigation costs associated with the accident. In addition to the liability payments to the public under the Price-Anderson Act, $300 million was paid by a pool of insurers to the operator of the damaged nuclear power plant under its property insurance policy.

Selected Examples of Historic Nuclear Events, as Classified by the INES Scale (1)

Level	INES description	Example	Location	Year
1	Anomaly	Fast stop of the main circulation pumps and simultaneous loss of their fly wheel systems during reactor scram	Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant, Finland	2008
		Exposure of two workers in the nuclear power plant beyond the dose constraints	Rajasthan Nuclear Power Plant, India	2012
2	Incident	Reactor trip due to high pressure in the reactor pressure vessel	Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant, Mexico	2011
		Overexposure of a practitioner in interventional radiology exceeding the annual limit	Paris, France	2013
3	Serious incident	Release of iodine 131 into the environment from the radioelements production facility	Fleurus, Belgium	2008
		Severe overexposure of a radiographer	Lima, Peru	2012
4	Accident with local consequences	Radioactive material in scrap metal facility resulted in acute exposure of scrap dealer	New Delhi, India	2010
		Overexposure of four workers at an irradiation facility	Stamboliysky, Bulgaria	2011
5	Accident with wider consequences	Severe damage to the reactor core	Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, USA	1979
		Four people died after being overexposed from an abandoned and ruptured high activity source	Goiania, Brazil	1987
6	Serious accident	Significant release of radioactive material to the environment after the explosion of a high activity waste tank	Kyshtym, Russian Federation	1957
7	Major accident	Significant release of radioactive material to the environment resulting in widespread health and environmental effects	Chernobyl, Ukraine	1986
		Significant release of radioactive material to the environment resulting in widespread environmental effects	Fukushima, Japan	2011

(1) International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency. INES Flyer.

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Top 15 World Property Damage Losses In The Hydrocarbon Industry (1)

(US $ millions)

Rank	Date	Plant type	Event type	Location	Country	Property loss (2)
1	Jul. 7, 1988	E&P offshore (3)	Explosion, fire	Piper Alpha, North Sea	U.K.	$1,960
2	Jan. 11, 2017	Refinery	Fire	Ruwais, Abu Dhabi	U.A.E	1,000+
3	Oct. 23, 1989	Chemical	Explosion, vapour cloud explosion	Pasadena, Texas	U.S.	1,520
4	Mar. 19, 1989	E&P offshore (3)	Explosion, fire	Baker, Gulf of Mexico	U.S.	900
5	Mar. 15, 2001	E&P offshore (3)	Explosion	Rancador Field, Campos Basin	Brazil	850
6	Sep. 25, 1998	Gas processing	Explosion, vapour cloud explosion	Sale, Longford, Victoria	Australia	810
7	Apr. 24, 1988	E&P offshore (3)	Blowout	Enchova, Campos Basin	Brazil	760
8	Sep. 21, 2001	Fertilizer	Explosion	Toulouse	France	730
9	Jun. 25, 2000	Refinery	Explosion, fire	Mina Al-Ahmadi	Kuwait	720
10	May 4, 1988	Chemical	Explosion	Henderson, Nevada	U.S.	690
11	Jan. 19, 2004	Gas processing	Explosion, fire	Skikda	Algeria	690
12	Apr. 1, 2015	E&P offshore (3)	Fire	Abkatun, Bay of Campeche	Mexico	690
13	May 5, 1988	Refinery	Explosion, vapour cloud explosion	Norco, Louisiana	U.S.	670
14	Mar. 11, 2011	Refinery	Explosion, fire	Sendai	Japan	650
15	Apr. 21, 2010	E&P offshore (3)	Explosion, fire	Gulf of Mexico	U.S.	640