SINGAPORE - Devastating earthquakes and record losses from storms made 2023 among the deadliest and most costly years for natural disasters for more than a decade, global reinsurer Munich Re said in its annual catastrophe report released on Jan 9. 

About 74,000 people died in 2023, with losses from natural disasters totalling US$250 billion (S$333 billion), the same as in 2022. Earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, Morocco and Afghanistan killed about 63,000 people – the highest since 2010 for geophysical hazards.

For all of 2023, insured losses totalled US$95 billion, compared with US$125 billion for 2022 and the five-year average of US$105 billion, Munich Re said. Insurers calculate both overall losses from disasters and how much was actually insured.

Severe storms dominated economic losses from natural disasters: 76 per cent of overall losses in 2023 were weather-related, Munich Re said, underscoring growing risks from worsening extreme weather fuelled by climate change.

Thunderstorms in North America and Europe racked up overall losses of US$76 billion and insured losses of US$58 billion.

“Such high thunderstorm losses have never been recorded before in the United States or in Europe,” said Munich Re.

“A large body of scientific research indicates that climate change favours severe weather with heavy hailstorms. Similarly, (insurance) loss statistics from thunderstorms in North America and other regions are trending upwards,” it added.

Across the globe, storms and floods wreaked havoc and killed thousands of people, including more than 4,000 in September in Libya, where severe floods were brought on by a rare cyclone in the Mediterranean.

Cyclone Freddy killed 1,400 in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and several other southern African nations and entered record books as the longest-lasting cyclone ever recorded, totalling five weeks.

Freddy formed off the Australian coast and then crossed the southern Indian Ocean, covering a distance of more than 8,000km, before making landfall in Madagascar and then meandering back and forth between Madagascar and Mozambique.

In Asia, Typhoon Doksuri killed more than 100 people and dumped record rainfall in parts of China, especially Fujian province. The storm also affected the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam and overall losses totalled about US$25 billion, of which roughly US$2 billion was insured.

New Zealand suffered twin disasters within weeks of each other, the first being catastrophic flooding in and around Auckland from late January to early February. Cyclone Gabrielle then struck the North Island in mid-February, unleashing deadly floods and landslides.

In October, Hurricane Otis lashed the Pacific coast of Mexico with wind speeds of up to 265kmh, making it the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall on Mexico‘s Pacific coast, said Munich Re and the US National Hurricane Centre.

The storm devastated the tourist resort of Acapulco, causing overall losses estimated at US$12 billion and insured losses at around US$4 billion.

So why was 2023 so deadly for storms and floods?

Munich Re pointed out that 2023 was the hottest year on record, due in part to El Nino, a natural phenomenon that causes periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific, which usually pushes up global temperatures.

In 2023, global average sea surface and air temperatures repeatedly hit records.

All that extra heat is like adding fuel to a fire, boosting the strength of storms. A warmer atmosphere also holds more moisture, meaning heavier rainfall.

“The warming of the earth that has been accelerating for some years is intensifying the extreme weather in many regions, leading to increasing (insurance) loss potentials,” said Mr Ernst Rauch, Munich Re’s chief climate scientist.

“More water evaporates at higher temperatures, and additional moisture in the atmosphere provides further energy for severe storms,” he added.

And the outlook for 2024 is concerning. While El Nino is predicted to peter out by mid-year, its warming influence is expected to linger, with fears that warmer oceans will trigger more storms and coral bleaching.

“If El Nino turns into its counterpart, La Nina, in the second half of 2024, the risk of flooding for eastern Australia could increase,” Munich Re said.

That would add to the misery the country has suffered in recent weeks. Eastern Australia has been battered by repeated bouts of storms and flooding, including Cyclone Jasper, which hit northern Queensland in mid-December and dumped huge amounts of rain, stranding entire communities.