Firm Says Disasters Killed 17,000 in 2000

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Personal note: I am posting this to provide some statistics on deaths 
due to disasters. Please note that NONE are assigned to anything even 
remotely related to "radiation".  I can only assume that if there 
were unfortunately even just 5 deaths attributed to radiation, that 
would have made this list (even though the hypothetical example is of 
such a small number):

Firm Says Disasters Killed 17,000 in 2000

GENEVA (Jan. 10) - Major catastrophes, including widespread flooding 
and the mass killing of members of a doomsday cult, claimed 17,000 
lives in 2000 and caused losses totaling $38 billion, a company that 
monitors world disasters said Wednesday. 

The biggest single loss of life came from flooding in India and 
Bangladesh at the end of August, where 1,200 people died, the Swiss 
Reinsurance Co. said in a preliminary report on its annual 
catastrophe review. Incidents of flooding were responsible for four 
of the top five disasters in 2000. 

``The number of fatalities from man-made disasters - almost 9,000 - 
was significantly above the average for the past decade,'' the 
company, widely known as SwissRe, said. 

``That two-thirds of these fatalities resulted from traffic 
catastrophes on land, water and in the air testifies to increased 
mobility.'' 

The deaths in Uganda of some 780 people belonging to the Movement for 
the Restoration of the Ten Commandments was the fourth most deadly 
catastrophe of the year, said the company, known as SwissRe. Police 
are treating the deaths as murders. 

Of the $38 billion in damages, insurers will have to pick up the bill 
for $11 billion. Floods alone accounted for $2.5 billion - ``a 
reference to the often underestimated flood loss potential.'' 

Only one disaster - the Tokai floods in Japan on Sept. 10 - cost 
insurers more than $1 billion. The floods are estimated to have 
caused $7.8 billion damage, of which $1.04 billion was insured. 

Among man-made disasters, the most costly for insurers was an 
explosion in a Kuwaiti oil refinery that cost $400 million. 

SwissRe said the losses were in line with the average for the 1990s 
and were substantially down from 1999, which was the second most 
expensive year in insurance history. 

Disasters in 1999 cost the lives of 105,000 people - nearly half of 
them following mudslides in Venezuela - and a series of storms and 
earthquakes contributed to estimated damage of $100 billion, of which 
$28.6 billion was insured. 

``The accumulation of storms and earthquakes striking highly 
populated areas in 1999 was purely random - as was their absence in 
the year 2000,'' SwissRe said. 

``It is assumed that the trend toward high losses will continue 
uninterrupted.'' 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

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