2008 one of worst years for disaster losses

Weather-related disasters and earthquakes are likely to make this year the second most costly year for insurers after 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the US, a leading insurer said.

Losses this year are around €122 billion so far, Thomas Loster, chair of Munich Re Foundation, told Reuters on the sidelines of the climate talks in Poznan, Poland, which end today.

He said it was likely to have been surpassed only by 2005, when Katrina contributed to losses of €167 billion.

Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in May, was the most deadly event of this year 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 UN Environment Programme that weather-related disasters seemed to be on the rise, in line with forecasts by the UN Climate Panel that blames mankind for global warming.

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

The rise in more extreme weather is leading to greater risks for vulnerable countries and communities while straining global insurance markets, the organisations said in a statement.

Hurricane Fay set records by hitting Florida four times and dumping almost 30 inches of rain on some areas this year.

UN climate talks in Poznan, meant to drive agreement next year on a new climate treaty, have focused on ways to insure developing countries against disasters and help them put in place prevention measures.