Much higher insurance bill coming

Reinsurance giant Swiss Re is predicting that the insurance industry could face a financial bill five times higher this year than in 2009 because of major earthquakes and storms.



The agency says the huge earthquakes in Haiti on January 12 and in Chile on February 27 along with the European storm Xynthia are already set to send damage payouts soaring this year.



Meanwhile, according to Swiss Re, disasters killed 15,000 people and cost the world $62 billion last year.



It says insurers covered damages of just $26 billion for natural and man made disasters in 2009, a year of relatively low human and financial losses partly helped by a calm Atlantic hurricane season.