OCLC Number: (OCoLC)123965229 Subject: Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- United States. Excerpt: ... Table 2: Insured Losses Associated with Hurricanes Category 1 & 2 Category 3, 4, & 5 Total 1980s $ 807 ( 11 ) $ 9,905 ( 6 ) $ 10,712 ( 17 ) 1990s $ 9,039 ( 11 ) $ 29,099 ( 8 ) $ 38,138 ( 19 ) 2000s $ 8,072 ( 7 ) $ 89,210 ( 7 ) $ 97,282 ( 14 ) Total $ 17,918 ( 29 ) $ 128,214 ( 21 ) $ 146,132 ( 50 ) Source: GAO analysis of PCS and NFIP data; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( hurricane severity classification ). Note: Totals in millions of 2005 dollars. Totals do not include crop losses associated with hurricanes. Number of hurricanes associated with losses is included in parentheses. Hurricane classification was based on peak intensity at landfall. Several recent studies have commented on the apparent increases in hurricane losses during this time period, and weather-related disaster losses generally, with markedly different interpretations. Some argue that loss trends are largely explained by changes in societal and economic factors, such as population density, cost of building materials, and the structure of insurance policies. Others argue that increases in losses have been driven by changes in climate. To address the issue, Munich Re - one of the world's largest reinsurance companies - and the University of Colorado's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research jointly convened a workshop in Germany in May 2006 to assess factors leading to 8 increasing weather-related losses. The workshop brought together a diverse group of international experts in the fields of climatology and disaster research. Workshop participants agreed that long-term records of disaster losses indicate that societal change and economic development 9 are the principal factors explaining weather-related losses. However, participants also agreed that changing patterns of extreme events are drivers for recent increases in losses, and that additional incre...