Re: Firm Says Disasters Killed 17,000 in 2000

["Jerry Cohen" <jjcohen@prodigy.net>]

I wonder how they define "Disaster"? How about the ~50,000 automobile
related deaths in the USA alone?
Don't they count?


-----Original Message-----
From: Sandy Perle <sandyfl@earthlink.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 2:21 PM
Subject: Firm Says Disasters Killed 17,000 in 2000


>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.''
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>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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