Mike,
Your question is the query most often received by my own
center (i.e., what are the costs of natural disasters?)
And, of course, there are no clear answers. There are many data sets -
comprising apples, oranges, grapefruit - i.e. not very comparable.
For a discussion of what exists, see:
"Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United
States" by Dennis Mileti (director of the Natural Hazards Center) -
published by the National Academy Press last spring. Ordering information
is available on the Web at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/5782.html.
In fact, the entire text is available on-line from that address; just
click the "Read" button on the left. . .
You might also consult the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group,
National Center for Atmospheric Research Web site:
http://www.dir.ucar.edu/esig/socasp/toc_img.html and
http://www.dir.ucar.edu/esig/socasp/stats.html etc.
Unfortunately these sources focus on the U.S.
In any event I hope this helps. I would be interested in seeing the
results of your research.
Best,
David Butler
Natural Hazards Information Center
University of Colorado
[log in to unmask]
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards
On Thu, 4 Nov 1999 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Dear all, I trust you will excuse my intrusion upon your presumed
> amiable natures. I am newcomer to your ranks (I arrived earlier today)
> and am currently researching the costs of natural disasters - I know the
> Swiss Re. and Munich Re. (two of the world's major reinsurance
> companies) prepare material relating to both economic losses (there seem
> to be a variety of definitions for this somewhat general expression) and
> insured losses. I am fairly happy with my listing of insured losses,
> excess of US$1 billion, but it is the economic losses that I need to
> develop. If my request is not considered impertinent, I would be most
> grateful if anyone could advise additional sources (other than general
> news releases) providing information on this subject please. Thanks
> very much
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