4 January 2004
Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, expects damage from natural disasters to rise ``exponentially'' in the coming years, triggered by human-driven climate changes such as global warming.
``We're seeing, and this is also shown by the models, that climatic changes will speed up, and that damages will probably not rise just linearly but exponentially,'' Peter Hoeppe, Munich Re's head of Geo Risks Research, said in an interview. Weather-related disasters will probably occur with greater frequency and intensity, prompting customers to boost insurance coverage, he said.
The Munich-based insurer last week said 2004 will be the costliest ever for natural disaster claims, mainly because of hurricanes that hit the Caribbean and Southeast U.S. and typhoons in Japan. It estimated insured damages will total more than $40 billion industrywide, up from $15 billion in 2003.
Separately, the company expects more exact estimates in ``coming weeks'' for damage claims related to the Dec. 26 quake off Sumatra that spawned tsunamis from Thailand to India. Hoeppe reiterated Munich Re's forecast that claims from the calamity would be less than 100 million euros ($134 million).
To contact the reporter on this story:David Scheer in Frankfurt at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story:Frank Connelly on [email protected]Katherine Snyder on [email protected]
