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DISASTER FACTS
According to the Insurance Services
Office, Inc., which provides statistical and actuarial services to the
insurance industry, of the 10 costliest disasters in U. S. history (covering
insured losses), six were hurricanes (topped by Hurricane Andrew in South
Florida in 1992), one was an earthquake (Loma Prieta, in the San Francisco,
CA, Bay Area in 1989) one a multi-state snowstorm (affecting 41 states
in 1983), one a multi-state series of tornadoes (the Xenia tornadoes in
the Midwest and South in 1974), and one a fire (the Oakland Hills, CA fire
in 1991).
Measured in constant U. S.
dollars, Hurricane Andrew is – at $15.5 billion in insured losses, and
nearly $30 billion counting all losses – the most expensive disaster in
American history. The flooding in 1993 in the Midwestern U.S. along
the Mississippi River and its tributaries, is the second costliest with
damages to insured and uninsured property estimated at $12 billion.
Some estimates of the 1994 Northridge earthquake place the damage at $20
billion, which would make it the second-costliest natural disaster in American
history.
SOURCE: Information Please
Almanac, 1995
Houghton Mifflin Company |
