Aon Report: January Sees No Major Natural Disaster Event

Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon Corporation, released its latest Global Catastrophe Recap report, which analyses the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during January.

The report reveals that while there was no single major loss event throughout the month, a series of relatively small aggregated losses impacted insurers and economies.

In the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, Windstorm Ulli killed at least two people early in the month and caused widespread damage. Thousands of insurance claims were filed in the affected regions, with total insured losses estimated at approximately $306 million.

Elsewhere in Europe, prolonged low temperatures killed at least 306 people in the east of the continent, while in Japan, heavy snowfall from a series of winter storms killed at least 56 people and injured 750 others, with the hardest-hit areas comprising Akita, Niigata, Nagano and Aomori.

The United States endured widespread multiple winter storms during January, with heavy snow and freezing rain in parts of Oregon and Washington, that caused total damages estimated to be well above $50 million.

Steve Jakubowski, President of Impact Forecasting, said: “Following an extremely active 2011, this year has already seen an elevated number of natural disaster events. However, contrary to last year, 2012 has thus far lacked what we would term a significant event. Severe winter weather impacted many countries during January, and we would expect this trend to continue into February across the Northern Hemisphere. Climatology and the current La Nina phase suggest that heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones are a threat for the Southern Hemisphere, especially after Cyclone Yasi’s landfall and flooding across parts of Australia last year during the months of January and February.”

Meanwhile, a rare January tornado outbreak caused widespread damage to portions of Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi, with total economic losses anticipated to exceed $100 million and insured losses in Alabama alone expected to be at least $30 million. The number of tornado touchdowns during the month made 2012 the third-most active January since official records began in 1950.

Severe weather was also prevalent in parts of Indonesia, where separate events led to widespread damage and fatalities. The first event swept through Jakarta, where total damages were recorded at $30 million, and a event saw a tornado kill at least 14 people and destroy more than 2,000 homes in the provinces of Jakarta, Central Java, East Java and West Java.

Flooding and landslides caused damage and fatalities in multiple continents, with the countries of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Brazil, Mozambique and South Africa all sustaining effects. Tropical Cyclone Funso brought torrential rains and gusty winds to Mozambique, though never officially making landfall. At least 30 people were killed and tens of thousands of homes were affected.