Disasters killing more people: insurer (AAP)

Natural disasters killed at least 150,000 people in the first half of this year, more than in the whole of 2004 when south-east Asia was struck by a tsunami, a top insurer said. The figures came from German re-insurance group Munich Re which warned that the pattern this year fitted a trend of worsening weather-driven catastrophes. The company called for increased efforts to fight climate change. Specialists at the German group recorded about 400 natural catastrophes in the first half of 2008, with overall losses so far estimated at $US50 billion ($A52.48 billion). In 2007, a total of 960 disasters caused about $US82 billion in damage, of which $US30 billion was covered by insurance. In Burma, the cyclone Nargis killed 138,000 people in early May, and in mid-May an earthquake left 69,200 dead or missing in China, the company... [read full story]