2008 one of worst years for disaster losses: insurer

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - Weather-related disasters and earthquakes are likely to make 2008 the second most costly year for insurers after 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, a leading insurer said on Wednesday.

Losses in 2008 are around $160 billion so far, Thomas Loster, chair of Munich Re Foundation, told Reuters on the sidelines of December 1-12 climate talks in Poznan, Poland.

He said it was likely to have been surpassed only by 2005, when Katrina contributed to losses of $220 billion.

Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in May, was the most deadly event of 2008 so far, claiming an estimated 84,500 lives. The most costly was May's earthquake in China.

Munich Re said in a study with the U.N. Environment Programme that weather-related disasters seemed to be on the rise, in line with forecasts by the U.N. Climate Panel that blames mankind for global warming.

"Since the 1980s, earthquakes have risen by around 50 percent but weather-related hazards such as major floods have increased by as much as 350 percent and those from wind storms have doubled," the report said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4B978U20081210?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

[glowing]

1. Time for a National Catestrophic Fund.. and for small private ins. to cover

things like house fires and that one crazy tree or the old person driving thru the living room scenarios.. It would lower the cost of ins for all homeoners, business owners, and municipalities... AND pooling all resources across America to fund the Catestrophic Fund would pool resources and cost everyone less. I know in FL home/ business insurance is one of the major causes of the first round of foreclosures.. and keeps many from moving into florida. Also, a National Cat. Fund takes out the CEO's and stock holders who have to make a profit.. this gives you shitty fine print loopholes not to pay and causes a lot of paperwork and court/ legal fees in suing for protection and payment to re-build or replace the roof.