Natural disasters claimed 295,000 lives last year
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Russian forests burned, with the fires threatening nuclear facilities and areas where the ground had been contaminated by radioactive fallout from Chernobyl. At least 56,000 people died as a result of heat and air pollution, making it the most deadly natural disaster in Russia's history.
Munich Re calls the Atlantic hurricane season a "lucky escape." Favorable weather patterns meant that the U.S. coast was not hit by a single hurricane, but in Mexico a few storms caused substantial damage.
Otherwise, hurricanes moved away from land in a northeasterly direction, only grazing some islands in the Caribbean.
But in terms of the number and intensity of the storms, it was one of the severest hurricane seasons of the past 100 years, according to the Munich Re report.
There were 19 named tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic last year, equaling the number recorded in 1995 and putting 2010 in joint third place after 2005, which had 28 named storms and 1933, which had 21.
Twelve of last year's Atlantic storms attained hurricane strength, with five of these falling into the top hurricane categories with wind speeds over 178 km/h (110 mph).
"This means the forecasts of various institutes about the number of storms turned out to be very accurate," said Munich Re.
"The number of storms was indeed well above average. It is just that it is impossible to forecast whether and where such storms will make landfall," said Professor Peter Höppe, who heads Munich Re's Geo Risks Research.
Right at the start of the 2010 hurricane season, the water temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic were up to two degrees Celsius above the long-term mean - and thus significantly higher than the level to be expected for the cyclical warm phase in the North Atlantic that has persisted since 1995, he said.
"That is in line with the trend of the past 30 years, in which all ocean basins show an increase in water temperatures. This long-term trend can no longer be explained by natural climate oscillations alone," said Höppe. "The probability is that climate change is contributing to some of the warming of the world's oceans."
Höppe predicted, "This influence will increase further and, together with the continuing natural warm phase in the North Atlantic, is likely to mean a further high level of hurricane activity in the coming years."
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