Hundreds of natural catastrophes occur worldwide every year—there were 780 loss events per year on average over the last 10 years. Since 1980, these disasters have claimed over two million lives and caused losses worth US$ 3,000 billion. The deadliest disasters were caused by earthquakes: the...

SummaryThe statistics of natural disasters with respect to number of deaths, economic losses and insured losses are each dominated by different types of events: earthquakes and storm surges represent the deadliest threat, floods and earthquakes exert the most severe economic strains on...

No other region is more threatened by natural perils than coasts. Fierce winds, storm surges, large waves and tsunamis expend their destructive energy when they reach the coastline. Constituting, in many cases, the boundary between continental plates, coasts experience earthquakes and volcanic...