THE 20 MOST COSTLY WORLD INSURANCE LOSSES, 2010 (1)

($ millions)

Rank Date Country Event Insured loss
in U.S. dollars
1 Feb. 27 Chile Earthquake (Mw 8.8) triggers tsunami,
over 200 aftershocks
$8,000
2 Sep. 4 New Zealand Earthquake (Mw 7.0), over 300 aftershocks 4,453
3 Feb. 27 France, Germany,
Belgium et al.
Winter storm Xynthia, winds up to 160 km/h 2,754
4 Oct. 4 U.S. Thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, floods 2,165
5 Dec. 23 Australia Floods caused by heavy rains, tropical
cyclone Tasha
2,050
6 May 12 U.S. Storms, winds up to 130 km/h, hail 2,000
7 Mar. 13 U.S. Storm, winds up to 120 km/h, heavy rain,
floods
1,231
8 Mar. 22 Australia Storm, winds up to 120 km/h, hail, rain,
mudslides
1,079
9 Mar. 6 Australia Storms, hail, rain, floods 1,070
10 Apr. 20 Gulf of Mexico,
U.S.
Explosion on Deepwater Horizon oil rig 1,000
11 Apr. 30 U.S. Floods caused by heavy rain, storms 820
12 Jun. 15 France Floods caused by heavy rain 818
13 Jul. 20 U.S. Storms, floods, hail, tornado 785
14 May 29 China Floods, mudslides caused by heavy
monsoonal rain
761
15 Jun. 10 U.S. Storms, winds up to 97 km/h, hail, heavy
rain, floods
695
16 Jun. 17 U.S. Thunderstorms, heavy rains, floods 620
17 May 10 U.S. Tornadoes, hail 610
18 Feb. 9 U.S. Winter storm, winds up to 80 km/h, snow 600
19 Aug. 6 Germany, Czech
Republic et al.
Floods caused by heavy rain 591
20 Jul. 12 Canada Hailstorm, heavy rain; damage to buildings
and cars
More than 500

(1) Property and business interruption losses, excluding life and liability losses. Loss data shown here may differ from figures shown elsewhere for the same event due to differences in the date of publication, the geographical area covered and other criteria used by organizations collecting the data.

Source: Swiss Re, sigma, No. 1/2011; The Property Claim Services (PCS) unit of ISO, a Verisk Analytics company, insured losses for natural catastrophes in the United States.