For the insurance industry, 2013 was a below-average year in terms of naturalhazard losses. There were no major earthquakes, and hurricane activity
in North America was a long way below the long-term average. Apart
from two landfalls in Mexico, there were no major losses in the Americas.
However, it was a quite different situation on the other side of the world,
where Typhoon Haiyan caused the year’s biggest catastrophe. The storm
surge in the Philippines claimed thousands of lives and devastated vast
areas.
It is fair to say that 2013 was dominated by water-related events, with
extensive flooding on nearly all continents. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly,
the largest insured loss occurred in Germany, where the hailstorms
in late July cost the insurance industry US$ 3.7bn (€2.8bn) in just 48 hours.
The meteorite impact in Chelyabinsk, Siberia, was an unusual event and
showed that the insurance industry needs to consider even the “most
exotic” of hazards.
