Crises Cost $56 Billion in First Half of 2013

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    Still don’t think crisis management should be a priority?

    We all know that crises can create financial damage, but do you really understand how much damage? The stats below, quoted from a BusinessInsurance.com article, may surprise you:

    Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused insured losses of $20 billion in the first half of 2013, with floods a major contributor to that total, according to a Swiss Re Ltd. report released Wednesday.

    The Swiss Re sigma study found that natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused economic losses of $56 billion and resulted in insured losses of more than $20 billion during the first six months of the year, $17 billion of the total due to catastrophes.

    In the first half of 2012, natural catastrophes and man-made disasters caused insured losses of about $21 billion, Swiss Re said.

    The numbers confirm what we’ve long espoused — crisis preparedness is an investment, not an expense. The above-mentioned damage averages $9.3 billion monthly. The cost of comprehensive vulnerability assessment, crisis planning, and training is minuscule compared to the potential losses.

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    For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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    [Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also the editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]