Haiyan Leaves $6 Billion Economic Loss: Aon Benfield

But insured losses are only a fraction of that full cost, the company says.

Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed nearly 6,000 people when it made landfall in the Philippines in November, will lead to a total economic loss, including damage and reconstruction cost, of $5.8 billion U.S., according to the latest Global Catastrophe Recap report from Impact Forecasting, a division of Aon Benfield.

However, insured losses aren't even expected to hit a full billion dollars, the company says.

"The substantial impacts from Haiyan highlight the vital roles that catastrophe modeling and the insurance industry can have in both analyzing future risks and helping communities to recover more quickly following a major event," says Steve Bowen, Impact Forecasting senior scientist and meteorologist, in a statement.

Other major catastrophes in the month of November included a tornado outbreak in the central U.S. which killed 10 people, caused a total economic loss of about $1 billion and insured losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars; and a cyclone in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which killed at least 10 people and destroyed more than one million acres of crops. Total economic losses were about $800 million.

Earlier this year, Impact Forecasting reported that insured catastrophe losses were down 20% compared to a 10-year average.

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Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio