What Disasters Cost Us

Naming hurricanes, the WMA (World Meteorological Association) just uses 21 letters because it’s tough to find easily recognizable names that start with a Q, U, X,Y, or Z. Instead, after 21 letters, they revert to the Greek alphabet.

Because the same lists reappear every six years, our 2024 names will recycle in 2030:

Now, with Hurricane Ernesto moving across Bermuda, we can ask what “he” might add to this year’s disaster costs.

Billion Dollar Disaster Events

In a recent update that covered slightly more than the first 7 months (January-August 8) of 2024, NOAA looked at billion dollar disaster events. Totaling 19, they included one tropical cyclone, a wildfire, and 15 severe storm events:

Illustrated differently, this graphic displays a 2024 severe storm count that exceeds all other billion dollar disaster events:

The cost “scorekeeper” for the U.S. government is the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI). When they figure out the cost of a disaster, they include items like the following:

Our Bottom Line: The Broken Window Fallacy

In “What is Seen, and What is Not Seen,” Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) reminds us of what we are not doing as we recover from a calamity. When a window is broken, the glazier gets employment and the GDP rises. However, we just wind up with the window we had once had. By contrast, if the window had not been broken, then a business person could have stimulated new economic activity by spending that money elsewhere.

So, asking what billion dollar disaster events cost us, we could say we sacrifice moving forward.

My sources and more: Good for weather information, NOAA had the up-to-date disaster facts and also cost calculation information. Then, this paper takes a brief contrarian look at how NOAA calculates losses. But, if you read just one extra article, do take a look at the first insured coral reef. Also, showing the unexpected impact of natural disasters, this article described the forced migration that led to the loss of traditional languages. And finally, econlib introduces us to Frédéric Bastiat.

Please note that we could consider this post an update since the format was in previous posts.

Our featured image is from NASA.