Natural disasters made this April the worst in 2011 for economic damage, but the UK got away lightly
The warm weather in London these last few days may have led you to believe that April's weather – complete with its snow storm – was a bit of a washout. However, a report out today shows that the UK's weather last month was rather reasonable… provided you work in insurance.
Aon Benfield's most recent Global Catastrophe Recap has found that last month was the most expensive April for damage caused by natural disasters since 2011, but none of the major events affected the UK.
By comparison, the weather in March, particularly Storm Katie, cost the UK millions of US dollars in economic loss, as well as destroying thousands of structures and, sadly, taking one life.
Unfortunately, other areas of the world were not quite so lucky in April. Two major earthquakes in Japan, which struck the south of the country between 14 and 16 April, left at least 66 people dead and more than 4,000 others injured.
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Total economic damage from the events is expected to exceed $10bn (£6.9bn), while total insured loss is expected to be at least $2bn.
An earthquake in Ecuador killed at least 660 people, left more than 17,000 others injured and caused economic damage in the region of $3bn upwards. However, because of the low level of insurance takeup in the region, insured costs are likely to be only a fraction of the economic loss.
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Meanwhile, a series of storms in the United States caused economic losses which are expected to be in excess of $4bn, while insured losses are likely to reach at least $3bn.
Calling it the "costliest April since 2011", Steve Bowen, director of impact forecasting at Aon Benfield, added: "The large differential between the economic and insured losses is yet another reminder of how much opportunity exists for the insurance industry to help engage with governments, communities and businesses around the world to provide the risk expertise that can help mitigate the effects of natural disasters."