Cateel, Davao Oriental, Philippines, after Typhoon Bopha pass the area in early December 2012. Photo source: ©© International Organization for Migration
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For three consecutive years, natural hazards have cost the world more than US$100 billion a year, according to new data from the Brussels-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), released in Geneva on 14 March. But even this high figure only takes into account primarily insured losses in rich countries, and does not reflect losses in the developing world, said CRED Director Debby Guha-Sapir.
In 2012, natural hazard-related losses worth $138 billion were recorded – more than half of it from disasters in the US, including the devastation caused by drought and Hurricane Sandy. “All of these were insured losses,” said Guha-Sapir.
While Typhoon Bopha killed more than 1,900 people in the Philippines in 2012, the country has an insurance penetration of only one percent, she added…
