While preliminary estimations of Sandy's damage suffered by insurance companies may amount to $5-10 billion, Russian experts emphasize the economic consequences of natural disasters and the higher payments risks linked with natural disasters impose on insurance companies, Writes Sergey Duz for the Voice of Russia. Attributing this increase to the multiplication of storms, hurricanes and tsunamis, Alexey Yablokov, adviser at the Russian Academy of Sciences, also pointed at sea level rise as a factor that causes a small hurricane to become more devastating.
Also taking Fukushima disaster's impact on global economy as an example, the article concludes that it makes no sense to fight nature, as it is more logical to adjust to the coming changes. "We should take it seriously. What should we do next? It is not ruled out that after the hurricane in the US the government will revise some of the norms for the housing construction. It will cost more to the people and the government to build firmer houses but these houses will be capable to withstand new natural threats," said Alexei Kokorin, head of the Climate and Energy program of the World Wildlife Fund.