Cyclone highlights the need for future investments in modernising coastal barriers, embankments, and the electrical grid - Aon

Cyclone Amphan swept across India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka during May, killing at least 133 people – 103 in India, 26 in Bangladesh, and four in Sri Lanka – and injuring more than 1,200 others, according to Aon’s Global Catastrophe Recap.

Governments of India and Bangladesh estimated that nearly three million homes had been damaged or destroyed, along with vast areas of agriculture and infrastructure. The government in West Bengal, India, expected total economic losses to exceed INR1.0 trillion ($13.5 billion), while officials in Bangladesh noted damage costs nearing BDT127 billion ($1.5 billion). Most of the damage was expected to be uninsured.

Michal Lörinc, catastrophe analyst within Aon’s Impact Forecasting team, said: “The vulnerabilities of infrastructure were amplified by Cyclone Amphan’s widespread effects in India and Bangladesh during May.

”The storm brought extensive coastal and inland flooding, in addition to hurricane-force wind gusts, which put a further spotlight on the need for future investments in modernising coastal barriers, embankments, and the electrical grid in storm-prone areas around the world. The use of catastrophe models to incorporate future storm scenarios is one useful option to use as a guide for investment planning.”

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