Natural disasters estimated at $77 billion in first half of 2021

Swiss reinsurance company Swiss Re said Thursday that economic losses from natural disasters were estimated at $77 billion worldwide in the first half of the year, but decreased by 33 percent in one year.

The company said in a statement that the amount is also lower than the average in ten years, which exceeds 108 billion dollars, but the share that insurance companies will have to cover for natural disasters is higher than usual levels.

The costs that insurance companies must cover will rise by four percent to reach $42 billion, including $40 billion for natural disasters, according to the Swiss group, which states that costs are usually lower in the first half of the year than in the second half, in which the cost increases in general with Hurricane season in the North Atlantic.

For insurers, this is the most expensive first half since 2011 when the bill rose due to earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand.

The Swiss group, which acts as an insurer for insurance companies, said that the average bill for insurance companies over the past ten years was about $33 billion.

"The effects of climate change are manifested by higher temperatures, higher water levels, more irregular rainfall and extreme weather conditions," Martin Bertog, director of disaster activities at Swiss Re, said in the press release.

Bertog stressed that so-called secondary weather events, unlike very large natural disasters, tend to increase, which represents an "increasing risk."

He added that Winter Storm Urey, which hit the United States in February with sudden cold waves that reached Texas, alone caused $15 billion in insured losses.

For insurance companies, the costs of thunderstorms and hail in June that damaged cars and homes, especially in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, are estimated at $4.5 billion.

After very high temperatures in late June in Canada, the second half of the year began with increasing climate damage between fires in California, floods in Germany and China, as well as fires in Turkey, Greece and Italy.