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Hurricane Katrina - Florida
Hurricane Rita - US, Cuba
Earthquake - Pakistan
Hurricane Wilma - US, Mexio, Cuba
Landslide - Philippines
Hurricane Stan - Mexico
Explosion & fire - UK
Other events
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Catastrophe Report 8
August 8th to February 23rd 2006 - Bill McGuire |
Eye of Hurricane Katrina viewed from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft
on 28 August 2005. Courtesy: NOAA
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The period from early August 2005 to mid-February 2006 has proved
to be one of the costliest and lethal of all time, contributing
- in 2005 as a whole – to record insured losses of around
US$75 billion. The defining event was an unprecedented Atlantic
hurricane season, which proved to be the most active and destructive
ever. In total, 27 tropical storms were generated (the previous
record was 21 in 1933), of which 14 achieved hurricane status.
Of these, three (Katrina, Rita and Wilma) were classified as
Category 5 storms (the previous record was 2 in each of 1960
and 1961). Other noteworthy records broken were (i) the most
intense Atlantic hurricane on record (Wilma), (ii) the most
(4) major (Category 3-5) hurricanes to make US landfall, (iii)
the first hurricane (Vince) to strike the Iberian Peninsula,
and (iv) the latest end to a hurricane season (January 5th 2006).
The climax of the season saw Hurricane Katrina strike New Orleans
as a Category 4 storm, causing major flooding and taking 1300
lives. Losses related to Katrina are estimated at US$125 (economic)
and US$38 billion (insured), making the storm the costliest
US natural disaster of all time. For 2005 as a whole, the ISO
estimates that US insurers paid out US$56.8 billion (of which
US$8.9 billion in the 4th quarter) in response to 24 catastrophic
events. Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, Rita, Ophelia and Dennis
accounted for US$52.7 billion of this. The other major catastrophe
during the period was the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck
the Kashmir region of Pakistan and India in December 2005. This
resulted in massive and widespread building collapse and the
triggering of many landslides, leading to an estimated death
toll of 87,000. |
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| Other notable events over the
period included severe flooding in August in Alpine regions
of Germany, Austria and central Switzerland, leading to 11
deaths and losses of US3 billion (economic) and US$1.5 billion
(Insured). Serious flooding also occurred in Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Fiji, Guyana, India and Iraq, with floods and landslides causing
damage and taking lives in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and
the Philippines. In the latter, a major debris flow killed
an estimated thousand people in February 2006, when torrential
rains triggered the collapse of a mountainside. A cold wave
affected Afghanistan and persistent cold weather in Europe
brought heavy snow that led to roof collapse of an exhibition
centre in Poland, killing 66 people, an ice rink in Germany,
taking 11 lives, and a market in Moscow, killing a further
12 people. In Tajikistan, exceptional snow fall triggered
numerous avalanches that took 20 lives. Geologically, the
period was quiet, with a magnitude 5.7 earthquake causing
substantial building damage in China and a volcanic eruption
in Vanuatu requiring evacuation of the local population the
only significant events. For 2005 as a whole, Munich Re. estimates
that economic losses arising from natural catastrophes exceeded
US$200 billion, while more than 100,000 lives were claimed.
. The latter toll has only been surpassed twice in the last
quarter of a century; in 1991 and again in 2004. The immense
impact of natural hazards on China was once again demonstrated
in figures published for 2005 as a whole. These showed the
cost of natural disasters – mainly floods and windstorms
– to be US$25.2 billion (1.3 percent of GDP), with 2,475
lives lost, 15 million people displaced and more than 2 million
buildings destroyed Three technological disasters worthy of
note were the November 2005 explosion and resulting widespread
contamination from a Chinese benzene plant, the destruction
of the UK’s Buncefield oil depot in December 2005, and
the Egyptian ferry disaster that took close to 1,000 lives
in February 2006.
This report was first published in Catastrophe Risk Management
in April 2006.
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