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<br /> <br />earthquakes araJ volcanoes. Only 17 percent were <br />insured. Determining losses with a higher degree <br />of accuracy is impossible becausf the United <br />States has not cstablished a systematic repOfting <br />method or a single repository for the data. Further, <br />these numbers do not include indirect costs such <br />as downtime for businesses, lost employment. <br />environmental damage, or emotional effects on <br />victims. Most of these lo,>ses rfslJlt from events <br />too small to qualify for fedfral assistance, and <br />most are not insured, so victims must bear the <br />costs. . . . Seven of the ten most costly disas- <br />ters-based on dollar losses-in US history <br />occurred bftween 1989 and 1994. In fact, since <br />1989 the nation has frequently entered periods in <br />which losses from catastrophic natural disasters <br />averaged about $1 billion per week. The dramatic <br />increase in disaster losses is expected to continu/:'o <br />. . . Many of the harshest recent disasters could <br />have been far worse: had Hurricane Andrew bcen <br />slower and wetter or torn through downtown <br />Miami, for example, it would have wreaked devas- <br />tation even more profound than the damage it did <br />inflict. And the most catastrophic likely events, <br />including a great earthquake in the Los Angeles <br />area, have not yet occurred. Such a disaster would <br />cause up to 5,000 deaths, 1 S,UOU serious injuries, <br /><lnd $250 billion in direct economic losses. <br /> <br />5 <br />