Sydney September 8, : A string of flooding that struck the eastern states of Australia in the summer of 2008 cost billions of dollars in insurance losses, with the financial impact being felt by all homes in the country according to a report that was released on Thursday. As per the Insurance Council of Australia’s (ICA) “Insurance Catastrophe Resilience Report 2021-22” The floods of February and March in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland caused A$5.28 billion in insured losses and added A$1,500 in annual costs for each household, according to Xinhua news agency.
The report, which was conducted by the ICA by the public research institute for policy McKell Institute, calculated the household’s cost of living based on the increasing costs of related expenses like taxes and insurance premiums, uninsured damage and price increases because of supply chain problems that were caused by floods.
McKell Institute Chief Executive Michael Buckland, in a statement released on Thursday, said results showed that the floods have not only affected millions of people who were caught in the rising water but in addition “showed that even those who weren’t directly affected have to bear the economic and social cost”.
“Every Australian pays for natural catastrophes through the increasing cost of products or paying the cost of recovery through taxes,” Buckland said.
The report also examined how climate change is affecting the cost of insurance in the regions hardest hit by bushfires, cyclones and floods.
Residents in the north of the country regions, which are often the most of these catastrophes, pay approximately 1.8 times higher in premiums for insurance than those in the south.
ICA Chief Executive Andrew Hall said the findings were striking reminders of the necessity to make investments in strengthening communities to fight the worsening extreme weather.
He demanded the state and territorial governments to change the tax structure on insurance to make them more affordable to those who are most at risk of extreme weather events.
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