List of disasters by cost
Encyclopedia
Disaster
s can be particularly notable for the high costs associated with responding to and recovering from them.
This page lists the economic costs of relatively recent disasters.
The costs of disasters varies considerably depending on a range of factors, such as the geographical location where they occur. When a disaster occurs in a densely-populated area in a wealthy country, the financial damage might be huge, but when a comparable disaster occurs in a densely-populated area in a poorer country, the actual financial damage might relatively small, in part due to a lack of insurance
. For example, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami with a death toll of over 230,000 people, cost a 'mere' $15 billion, whereas the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in which 11 people died, the damages were six-fold.
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
s can be particularly notable for the high costs associated with responding to and recovering from them.
This page lists the economic costs of relatively recent disasters.
- 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiThe 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
, Japan: estimated more than $ 300 billion - 2008 Sichuan earthquake2008 Sichuan earthquakeThe 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 Msand 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01 CST...
, China, $148 billion - Deepwater Horizon oil spillDeepwater Horizon oil spillThe Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
, Gulf of Mexico, 2010: Between $60 and $100 billion. - Hurricane KatrinaHurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, United States, August 2005: insurances compensated $ 45 billion; - Hurricane IkeHurricane IkeHurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...
, United States, September 2008, $ 29.6 billion - 1998 Yangtze River floods1998 Yangtze River FloodsThe 1998 Yangtze River floods was a major flood that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 in the People's Republic of China at the Yangtze River.-Tolls:The event was considered the worst Northern China flood in 40 years...
, China: $26 billion. - Hurricane AndrewHurricane AndrewHurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
, United States, August 1992: $ 25 billion - September 11 terrorist attacks, 2001: $20.7 billion;
- Chernobyl disasterChernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
, 1986: $15 billion estimated cost of direct loss. It is estimated that the damages could accumulate to €235 billion for Ukraine and €201 billion for Belarus in the thirty years following the accident; - Armero tragedy, Colombia, 1985, $7 billion.
- Exxon Valdez oil spillExxon Valdez oil spillThe Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989, when the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled of crude oil. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused...
, 1989: The clean-up of oil spill cost an estimated $2.5 billion; recovery for settlements, $1.1 billion; and the economical loss (fisheries, tourism, etc) suffered due to the damage to the Alaskan ecosystem was estimated at $2.8 billion; - Cedar FireCedar FireThe Cedar Fire was a human-caused wildfire that burned out of control through a large area of San Diego County, in Southern California, in October 2003...
, United States, 2003, $2 billion - AZF chemical plant explosion, Toulouse, France, 2001: €1.8 billion
- 2011 Slave Lake wildfire2011 Slave Lake wildfireThe 2011 Slave Lake wildfire was a large fire that burned through the Town of Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada and its surrounding area from Saturday, May 14, 2011 through Monday, May 16, 2011. The conflagration, which originated outside of town as a forest fire, was quickly pushed past fire barriers...
, Canada, $1.8 billion.
The costs of disasters varies considerably depending on a range of factors, such as the geographical location where they occur. When a disaster occurs in a densely-populated area in a wealthy country, the financial damage might be huge, but when a comparable disaster occurs in a densely-populated area in a poorer country, the actual financial damage might relatively small, in part due to a lack of insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
. For example, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami with a death toll of over 230,000 people, cost a 'mere' $15 billion, whereas the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in which 11 people died, the damages were six-fold.