Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013: large losses from floods and hail; Haiyan hits the Philippines

  Available online: http://media.swissre.com/documents/sigma1_2014_en.pdf

This Sigma report gives a global and regional overview of catastrophes in 2013 when almost 26,000 people died in disasters. It also takes a special look at fostering climate change resilience. Typhoon Haiyan was the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of the year and Asia had the highest economic losses. Worldwide economic losses from catastrophes worldwide were US$ 140 billion in 2013. The report predicts that climate change could contribute to rising losses in the future as the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events increase. It is argued that dealing with climate change requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions alongside an integrated approach to disaster risk management. This report describes how cost-effective adaptation measures could avoid up to 68 per cent of climate change risks.

Language(s): English

Tags: Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) ; Climate change ; Philippines Add tag