The Price of Natural Disasters

Worldwide, natural disasters cost $155 billion in 2018, according to an insurance industry report.

1 minute read

December 28, 2018, 11:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Florida National Guard

The National Guard / Flickr

"Natural disasters cost $155 billion this year, and several of them struck the United States particularly hard," reports Angela Fritz, sharing findings of a report published by reinsurance company Swiss Re.

Fritz focuses on the report's findings regarding disasters in the United States, namely the 8,500 wildfires that burned in California this year, charring 1.9 million acres; Hurricane Michael, which devastated Panama City, Florida and Mexico Beach, Florida; Hurricane Florence, which battered the Carolinas in September. Disasters from around the globe also get attention, like flooding in Japan, drought and wildfires in Europe, and a typhoon that struck the Philippines.

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