Natural and man-made disasters in Europe cost nearly 100,000 lives and inflicted an economic bill of about €150 billion between 1998 and 2009, the European Environmental Agency (EAA) said last Wednesday.

“Although the share of losses attributable to climate change is currently impossible to determine accurately, it is likely to increase in the future since the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are projected to growth,” it said.

The most fatalities were caused by the 2003 heatwave, which killed more than 70,000 people, the Copenhagen-based organisation said.

Flooding and storms were the costliest hazards, together carrying a tag of €96 billion, while earthquakes cost €29 billion.

Among industrial or technological accidents, prominent events were oil spills from the tankers Erika and Prestige in 1999 and 2002, and toxic waste pollution from mining in Aznacollar, Spain, in 1999 and in Baia Mare, Romania, in 2000.