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A barrage of tropic cyclone and the earthquake that struckChinain May made 2008 one of the most devastating in terms of human and financial losses , with more than 220,000 dead and $ 200 billion in scathe , according to one of the world ’s top reinsurers .
Although this class saw fewernatural disastersthan 2007 , the acute destruction of individual events pushed 2008 to No . 3 in the ranking of most expensive catastrophe age on platter , harmonise to a report by Munich Re Group .
An earthquake survivor carries a chair from the rubble of a building that collapsed in China’s May 12 earthquake Saturday 10 May 2025.
This year sits behind only 2005 ( $ 232 billion ) , with its record number of Atlantic hurricanes , admit the devastating Hurricane Katrina , and 1995 , the class of the temblor in Kobe , Japan . ( Munich Re ’s figures are adjust for ostentation . )
The twelvemonth with the most decease due to born catastrophe between 1991 and 2005 was 2004 , the year that the tsunami strike Southeast Asia , grant to United Nations statistic . The tsunami pour down more than 225,000 people .
The costliest catastrophe this twelvemonth in terms of financial impacts was the 8.5 magnitudeSichuan earthquakeand its aftershock , which Munich Re said cause an estimated $ 85 billion in damage . The quake left some 5 million homeless , hurt hundreds of thousands , and killed 70,000 people , with about 18,000 still lose .
The most devastating disaster in terms of deprivation of life was Cyclone Nargis , which slam into Myanmar ’s low - lying Irrawaddy Delta in May . The cyclone killed an estimated 135,000 people , with 85,000 deaths confirmed and 54,000 still miss , Munich Re reported .
In the United States , the most damaging event was Hurricane Ike , which struck Galveston , Texas , in September and have some $ 30 billion in damages along the Gulf Coast . Hurricane Gustav caused $ 10 billion in damages in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico .
Tornado season in the United States was also severe , with about 1,700 tornadoes causing several billion dollars in damages .
Climate change is likely to exacerbate the losses from weather - relate occurrent , such as tropic cyclones , say a member of Munich Re ’s Board of Management , as these outcome become more frequent and more and more people move to the coasts .
" 2008 has again prove how important it is for us to analyze endangerment like climate modification in all their facet and to manage the business consequently , " said Torsten Jeworrek .
