2005 was a bad year for natural disasters. An estimated 112,000 people died, and economic loss is expected to exceed $225 billion. Only about $80 billion of that loss was covered by insurance.
Hurricane Katrina, shown above, was responsible for $135 billion of losses. The majority of deaths, 87,000, was associated with the Pakistan earthquake of October 8 2005. That earthquake was caused by the continuing northward movement of the Indian tectonic plate and its subduction under the Eurasian plate. A result of that movement is that some mountains in the Karakoram range, such as K2 shown below, are rising by 4-5 cm per year.
Hmm, might be time to revive Project Stormfury, or invest in earthquake prediction and prevention .
$80B in Disaster Losses in 2005 – Associated Press, Dec 20 2005
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2011 is shaping up to be another sad landmark year for natural disasters.
Yes, and we still have to ride out the hurricane season yet. This time of year always makes me a little antsy.