Insured losses from natural disasters in first half of 2013 reached $20 billion

Insured losses for the first half of the year reached $20 billion, down from $25 billion in the same period of 2012, Impact Forecasting said Wednesday.

That’s also down about 20% from the 10-year average of $25 billion, according to the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield. All figures are in U.S. currency.

Total economic losses, were about $85 billion, up from $75 billion last year, but about 15% lower than the $100 billion average for between 2003 and 2012.

About half of the insured losses up to June 30 were from natural disaster events in the United States, Impact said.

About a quarter (24%) of the economic losses during the first six months of the year were covered by insurance, down slightly from the 10-year average of 28% coverage, “due to multiple significant catastrophe events occurring in areas where insurance penetration or specific peril coverage remained low,” it also noted.

The largest events in terms of economic losses included:

• The May and June floods in central Europe ($22 billion)
• The April 20 earthquake in China ($14 billion)
• Drought in Brazil ($3.8 billion)
• Severe weather in the U.S. from May 18 to 22 ($4.5 billion)
• Drought in China ($4.2 billion)

Meanwhile, the first half of 2013 included seven billion-dollar insured loss events:

• The central Europe floods  ($5.3 billion)
• The U.S. severe weather outbreak of May 18-22 ($2.5  billion)
• The U.S. severe weather outbreak of March 18-20 ($1.25 billion)
• The U.S. severe weather outbreak of May 26-June 2 ($1.2 billion)
• The Australian floods during January ($1.04 billion)
• The Canadian floods during June ($1 billion)
• A U.S. winter storm in early April ($1 billion)