Please help us improve PreventionWeb by taking this brief survey Your input will allow us to better serve the needs of the DRR community See the survey Swiss Re's latest sigma report reveals that catastrophes resulted in global economic losses of USD 280 billion in 2023 above the previous 10-year average of USD 89 billion we estimate that the insurance loss burden from catastrophes has more than doubled over the last 30 years And as climate change and trends such as urbanisation continue the contribution of more frequent and severe weather events to losses looks set to rise in the future we estimate that insurance losses could double in the space of just a decade the main driver of the accumulation of insured losses in 2023 was event frequency there were 142 insured-loss inducing catastrophes last year (as per the sigma threshold) annual global insured losses (inflation-adjusted) of more than USD 100 billion have become standard The fastest growing category of catastrophes is "medium-severity events" defined as events causing losses of USD 1-5 billion Most of this category comes under severe convective storms (SCS) - the umbrella term for a range of hazards including tornadoes and significant hail incidents SCS have collectively become the second largest loss causing peril SCS-insured losses were USD 64 billion - another new high an increasingly bright spotlight is being shone on Europe While the vast majority of SCS losses (85%) last year originated in the US where SCS losses have topped USD 5 billion in each of the last three years Italy in particular experienced the destructive power of hail when a series of SCS hit the densely populated northern areas of the country causing insured losses of USD 5.5 billion - the highest ever for a SCS event in Europe on sigma records Italy also set new records from a hazard severity perspective with documented hailstone diameters of up to 16 cm in one case even 19 cm - the largest ever reported in Europe these impacts have flagged that it is perhaps time to adjust associated risk assessment with the severity of the losses having come as a shock to the industry - particularly given that insurance penetration in the residential sector is still relatively low Europe experienced the largest total economic losses from all catastrophes of any continent Of the total USD 280 billion recorded globally The earthquake in Turkey and Syria was the biggest humanitarian disaster of the year the quake struck areas of low insurance penetration where roughly 90% of the economic losses were not covered - a dramatic reminder of the protection gaps that many people across the world face Slovenia equally garnered significant attention last year with extreme floods having occurred across the country following relentless rainfall in early August According to a report from the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO) typical historic amounts of precipitation for the whole of August fell in just a few hours in some areas with record or near-record daily rainfall totals having been measured in several locations on 4 August it is estimated that insured losses associated with the flooding were close to EUR 350 million the scale of the disaster is unprecedented in Slovenia's history with roughly two thirds of the country having been affected The Slovenia example serves as a distinct wake up call demonstrating the potential scale of the impacts that floods can cause - particularly in urban areas Greece was also exposed to the costliest event in its history from floods resulting from Storm Daniel the worst rainfall event in the country's recorded history the insured losses from large floods in urban areas in Europe reached almost USD 5 billion and across the world pushed inundation-related insured losses to USD 14 billion in 2023 The latest Swiss Re sigma report confirms that hailstorms are by far the largest contributor to insured losses from SCS hailstones can inflict significant damage to roofs solar panels and other property features such as skylights and slat blinds internal structures and building contents can also be impacted hail can cause dents and structural deformations to vehicles potentially triggering expensive repair costs and a rise in motor claims These risks signal the need for mitigation one of the difficulties in SCS risk modelling is that susceptibility to damage not only depends on building age or occupancy type but it is also shaped by parameters that are often not provided in exposure data For a more accurate assessment of vulnerability and the lack of building codes for hail in many regions needs to be addressed Catastrophe insurance claims have outpaced GDP growth over many years increasing the loss burden to society and raising challenges to insurance affordability And losses are only set to further increase in a world of fast evolving risk landscapes underpinned by economic growth the associated accumulation of assets that need insuring and intensifying hazards for certain perils and regions due to climate change effects For the insurance industry to better deal with the loss developments of today and prepare for the weather of tomorrow exposure modelling has to be done on the basis of up-to-date and more detailed exposure data the initial estimation of a catastrophe loss event should not only be based on historical event data but also reflect current insured values and inflation parameters at the time of the loss The "loss creep" we have seen in several recent European catastrophe events shows that they have been massively underestimated driven by an increasing shortage of skilled workers loss adjusters and experts in addition to rising labour prices following large events The increase of catastrophe events in Europe and their consequences not only concern the insurance industry Consequences and measures to be taken require a broader societal effort including individual property owners and the insurance industry all having a role to play It is critically important that the necessary steps are taken The insurance industry will continue to play its role in covering the risks that remain outstanding after mitigation and adaptation actions take effect Please note: Content is displayed as last posted by a PreventionWeb community member or editor. 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If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window) PreventionWeb is the global knowledge sharing platform for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience Last weekend in Germany, ultrarunner Merijn Geerts of Wilsele, Belgium, set a new world best in the quirky backyard ultra format of 90 laps during the Backyard Masters, breaking Harvey Lewis’s record of 85 laps set at the 2021 Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra This is equivalent to a total of over 600 km running the same 6.7 km loop every hour on the hour round the clock with the only rest breaks being the few minutes between finishing one loop and starting the next The Race is overMerijn Geerts completed the Yard 90 for a distance of 603.500KmNew World RecordKeith Russell returns during Yard 90 for a distance of 596.790 Congratulations Keith on what must be the Best Ever Performance by an Irish UltraRunner. #worldclass #ultrarunning pic.twitter.com/lbw1D2pluB — John O'Regan (@johnoregan777) May 18, 2022 Geerts broke the record at The Race of the Champions, an invitational in which participants must have qualified with at least 45 laps (300+ km) at a previous backyard ultra. In the backyard ultra ultra racing format, only runners who finish the lap within the hour cutoff are allowed to start the next lap. When the second-last participant either quits or fails to finish a lap in time, the final runner must complete one more lap to claim victory. A post shared by Merijn Geerts (@merijngeerts) There were four men still in the race after 62 laps; Norway’s Jon Asphjell was the first to drop then Japan’s Terumichi Morishata dropped shortly after Ireland’s Keith Russell and Geerts remained active for another 12 laps until Russell finally dropped out after 89 laps and Geerts managed to complete his 90th lap Both Russell and Geerts went well over Lewis’s previous record of 85 laps Russell started running in 2016 with his daughter Alanna who had spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy Geerts previously completed 74 laps and 496 km at this event in 2020. He was also the runner-up at the Backyard Ultra World Cup for the Belgian national team where Belgium won, and Karel Sabbe improved the backyard world record to 75 laps Get the digital edition of Running for your chosen platform: bpost’s Lueven Ecozone has been expanded to include Kessel-Lo meaning all territories in the City of Leuven now received sustainable deliveries – a total of 103,000 inhabitants which has been offering a network of 52 pickup points with zero-emission letter and parcel deliveries in Leuven city center and Heverlee since April 2022 will now use electric vehicles and bikes for all delivery rounds in the region Within just a few months of the launch of the Ecozone in 2022, the number of home deliveries had decreased by 6% and that figure continues to fall The number of home deliveries in Leuven is currently 9% lower than the pre-Ecozone figure and an in-house bpost study shows that Leuven performs well in terms of sustainable deliveries at Belgium level with almost one in four parcels delivered to pickup points Jos Donvil, CEO bpost Belgium, commented, “Sustainable urban logistics is an important driver of accessibility and quality of life in cities That’s why bpost is investing heavily in zero-emission mail deliveries and a dense network of pickup points which depend on a dense network of pickup points and zero-emission deliveries allow us to substantially reduce the ecological impact of our activities What began as a pilot project in 2020 has grown into one of our most impressive achievements on our way to net-zero emissions by 2040.” The expanded Leuven Ecozone will see all mail delivered from the Philipssite Mailcenter using 12 electric bikes with trailers and 65 electric cars bpost and the City of Leuven are also investigating the feasibility of new parcel locker locations in these suburbs We are hoping for the same outcome in the three suburbs.” bpost has now launched its Ecozone model in 15 cities and 36 postcode (ZIP) zones Nigeria and Australia were also hit by devastating flood events To better manage these risks and build more resilient communities detailed and accurate flood hazard and flood risk maps are essential Flood hazard maps identify areas affected by floods of different probabilities They provide valuable information about the predicted flood depth and flow velocity present the potential impact of floods on human health and life The maps are a key instrument for integrated flood risk management They are an important tool for raising awareness about areas at risk of flooding and for helping communities develop strategies for reducing these risks through structural and non-structural measures Civil protection and first responders can use the maps to plan emergency response and the insurance industry refers to the maps and the underlying data to design flood insurance products The maps are also essential for land-use planning and urban development to avoid creating new risks Bulgaria and Romania are two countries that have taken a leap forward in modernizing their approaches to flood mapping. The World Bank supported both countries to update their national flood hazard and risk maps (FHRM) as part of the drive to implement the second cycle of the EU Floods Directive This Directive provides an overall framework for integrated flood risk management and requires EU Member States to (i) identify Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk (APSFRs) (ii) assess in detail flood hazard and risk and prepare flood maps and (iii) develop flood risk management plans with programs of measures to tackle the flood risk FHRMs have been developed for different sources of flooding including fluvial coastal flooding for all identified APSFRs Image 1: The Bulgarian FHRM Web Portal Image 2: The Romanian FHRM Web Portal Developing accurate hazards maps requires vast amounts of input data ranging from spatial data (e.g. digital terrain models and cross sections of rivers) as well information on the existing hydrotechnical infrastructure and their operational rules This information feeds into hydrological and hydrodynamic models to simulate how flooding spreads across the landscape Modeling is carried out for synthetic flood events with low flood events that statistically occur once every 1000 years once every 100 years and once every 10 or 20 years Both Romania and Bulgaria have invested heavily in improving the input data new digital elevation models for an area of around 28,000km2 were produced using data from airborne LiDAR - a remote sensing method using planes to survey the elevation - and measurements from more than 33,000 river cross sections aerial photogrammetry mapping carried out alongside field surveys to collect additional data related to river cross sections and hydraulic structures produced new maps covering an area of over 2,500km2 Modeling was completed with sophisticated free and commercial software mainly two-dimensional modeling with unsteady flow both countries also examined a climate change scenario Image 3: Example of a Bulgarian Flood Hazard Map information on the elements exposed to flooding is needed This includes information about the population and their housing social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals protected areas and other types of assets and natural elements The flood risk maps use a qualitative approach to identify areas of low More detailed risk maps that use a quantitative approach present the potential risk in monetized damages per square meter This detailed information is used to calculate the economics of various investments in flood risk management using cost-benefit and multicriteria analysis orthophotos - aerial photographs or satellite imagery geometrically corrected such that the scale is uniform - of all APSFR were digitalized using innovative machine learning algorithms to identify and categorize all exposed elements Floods can cause different degrees of damage for different categories of elements (residential buildings A relationship between the depths of the flooding and the damage was determined for each category and monetized for different sectors Bulgaria followed a similar approach using an advanced geographic information system algorithm to perform risk analysis based on the results from the hydraulic modeling the FHRMs were presented to key stakeholders for review and validation the maps were formally reported to the European Commission and published on the internet for all citizens The new FHRMs are now being used in both countries to identify and prioritize non-structural and structural measures ranging from nature-based solutions to various structural solutions to be integrated into new flood risk management plans The development of these maps is an important step forward in flood risk management for Bulgaria and Romania the flood mapping approaches developed here can serve as a model for other countries dealing with flood risks around the world Image 4: Risk Map as presented in the Romanian Web Viewer Experts urge gardeners to check their hedge before they set to work The Asian hornet nests were well-hidden in the hedges The Flemish Bee Institute is now warning gardeners and garden workers to check carefully whether there are any Asian hornet nests in bushes or hedges before they start pruning a wasp-like species is on the rise in Belgium and has a habit of making primary nests at this time of year," says René De Backer The danger is that people who want to trim the hedge come into contact with the nests The Asian hornet feels threatened and attacks people three serious incidents occurred when garden workers were at work pruning The most serious incident happened in Reet (Antwerp Province) was stung several times while trimming a hedge "Apparently there was a nest of Asian hornets in the hedge and they attacked me and stung me about six times," Johan told VRT "I immediately started getting very itchy and experienced a stuffy feeling in my throat My head also became very hot." Johan had to go to hospital hung me on a drip and administered injections Two people were also attacked in Flemish Brabant Province last week a municipal worker was attacked by worker hornets Then someone was stung by Asian hornets in Begijnendijk but that person did not have to go to hospital," says De Backer The Flemish Bee Institute is warning municipal garden departments: "Abroad there have already been fatalities during pruning work so we advise everyone to look around carefully first to see if Asian hornets or nests are present The primary nests are about the size of a basketball They are light brown and they look like big paper balls." People who see a nest of Asian hornets should not try to deal with it themselves but contact the fire brigade or a specialised company