India faced Rs 1,005 crore ($185 billion) plus losses due to the adverse winter weather, said impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, in its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report.
This report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during a particular period, also said that there were 329 deaths collectively in India, Bangladesh and Nepal due to the cold wave.
The report reveals that the damages/loss due to the 329 deaths were unknown. However, no major catastrophe was seen to impact India, according to data from the report.
Unlike other nations, India does not have a catastrophe pool. Due to this, in the case of a natural disaster, insurance companies have to pay out of their own reserves. This results in a big hit for both insurers and the reinsurance companies, who make huge payouts during these situation's.
In terms of the other parts of the world, China faced a triple whammy, with earthquake, winter weather and drought causing Rs 3974 crore ($ 732 million) plus losses in January and February period. The United States was affected by four separate winter storms during February.
Steve Jakubowski, President of Impact Forecasting said, "As was the case in January, flooding and active winter weather continued to produce the largest global loss events during February, with the United States being particularly impacted by a series of powerful winter storms. While the damage was widespread, economic losses across the affected U.S. states were within the expected range for events of this magnitude, and, in some cases, insured losses were actually lower than might have been expected."
The report further said that flooding was prevalent across portions of South America, Asia and Europe during the month, with Peru and Bolivia amongst the hardest-hit, where seasonal rains killed at least 54 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 22,000 homes.
