€170bn bill for 2010 disasters

MAN-MADE and natural disasters generated worldwide economic losses of $222 billion (€170bn) in 2010, more than three times last year’s figure, the world’s biggest reinsurer, Swiss Re, said.

This year’s major catastrophes claimed 260,000 lives, most of them in the deadly Haiti earthquake which killed over 222,000 people.

Other disasters with high casualty rates included Russia’s heat wave, which left about 15,000 dead, and summer floods in China and Pakistan which killed 6,225, said Swiss Re.