Summary of 2011 tornado events as compared to 2010:
2010 – 1,282 tornadoes in the US with 45 Fatalities
2011 – 1,718 tornadoes in the US with 553 Fatalities
2011 proved to be the costliest year yet for the insurance industry in terms of natural disaster losses worldwide. Insured losses last year totaled $105 billion led by the Japan tsunami. That topped the previous record of $101 billion set in 2005, when losses were up due to claims from Hurricane Katrina.
2011 was a record breaking natural disaster event year in the US with a dozen “billion dollar” disaster events now documented. The President of the US declared a record 99 major federal disaster declarations easily surpassing the 2010 record of 81. The “average” year in the US sees 34 major declarations.
This brings to mind the ongoing debate of “are disasters being driven by more powerful events…. Or, are more people moving in the way of disasters” to cause the record declarations and record cost. Case in point – if you look at the same acreage that was raked by the Joplin tornado last year 10 years ago in a 2001 aerial photo, there is far less infrastructure present in terms of housing, businesses and the hospital. I think all will agree that determining the reason for these record numbers is pertinent to determining how the shrinking disaster and preparedness funding streams can be best utilized. Several of the 2011 disaster events in the US were way beyond the disaster response capability of the affected region. We have to start looking at more novel mitigation and preparedness efforts versus trying to buy more equipment and train more responders….
