Disasters proving too costly: Aussie Report

Disasters proving too costly: report

THE increasing frequency of natural disasters is rendering some communities uninsurable, according to a new report commissioned by the Australian Local Government Association.

"It can take communities years to recover from a major disaster and the overwhelming likelihood is that these disasters are going to occur more frequently.

"This means that some places may become uninsurable."

So looks like the Australian Local Government Association and insurers are becoming concerned at the cost of what is now being quite readily acknowledged 'increasing frequency of natural disasters'.

While increased population and infrastructure obviously contribute to the costs caused by natural disasters, it is pretty clear that such natural disaster events are increasing, as we have seen just in recent years.

Are natural disasters really increasing in frequency, or is it simply the case that more houses are being built in disaster-prone areas?

I think that's worth looking into.

reply to post by Sankari


I'll actually agree with you on this one. There have been violent and wild outbreaks of weather before. It will happen again..and again. The 1950's was the last I keep being drawn back to when I go hunting for major records or major periods of damage and activity. Like you note, population and distribution was radically different then, so the storms and events they tracked didn't impact human beings nearly as often. No one cares or remembers when it doesn't kill or hurt people.

Yes natural disasters have increased in frequency here in Australia and so have weather patterns changed. Australia just had it's hottest summer on record and longest warm temperatures into the new year since records began well over 100 years ago.

I've noted a number of damaging storms along the east coast have become much more frequent in the last couple of years alone. Parts of Australia have also recently experienced their highest rainfalls on record. Some of the flooding in 2011 in particular in QLD and VIC were incredible.

reply to post by Sankari


This is a good observation. Another question that I've heard asked is "are there more disasters or are we just noticing them more because of social media sites like twitter?" personally I think more disasters are happening. This will become a major problem all over the world. I saw in a recent thread that America has recieved over 60% of the natural disaster damage across the globe. This was measured in dollar value though. But I think there is something to this.