GENEVA (AP) — A leading Swiss firm says insurance claims
paid out because of natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013
totaled $45 billion globally, much of it due to floods in Europe and
Typhoon Haiyan in Asia.
Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company
Ltd., known as Swiss Re, says the tab covered by insurance companies
represents only about a third of the $140 billion in economic losses,
not to mention 26,000 lives lost, from 308 catastrophes worldwide last
year.
Swiss Re said Wednesday the single biggest humanitarian
catastrophe was Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,500 people dead or missing
and caused $12.5 billion in damage to the Philippines and Vietnam.
The
most expensive natural disaster, it said, was the $16.5 billion in
flood damage across Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.

Summary

GENEVA (AP) — A leading Swiss firm says insurance claims
paid out because of natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013
totaled $45 billion globally, much of it due to floods in Europe and
Typhoon Haiyan in Asia.
Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company
Ltd., known as Swiss Re, says the tab covered by insurance companies
represents only about a third of the $140 billion in economic losses,
not to mention 26,000 lives lost, from 308 catastrophes worldwide last
year.
Swiss Re said Wednesday the single biggest humanitarian
catastrophe was Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,500 people dead or missing
and caused $12.5 billion in damage to the Philippines and Vietnam.
The
most expensive natural disaster, it said, was the $16.5 billion in
flood damage across Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.

Summary