Canadian wildfire city : Wildfire spared 90 percent of Fort McMurray

Fort McMurray is largely intact despite a week of damage from the wildfires devastating Canada's oil sands region, Alberta's premier said after touring the ghost town.

Alberta wildfire could cause record insurance losses in Canada

The wildfire that destroyed the Fort McMurray region in Canada's Alberta province is expected to incur the largest insured property losses from a single disaster in Canadian history.

With disasters on the rise, relief is the problem

The popular perception that natural disasters are on the rise has now been confirmed. Private insurers are preparing for rough weather, and governments would do well to heed calls for more precautionary measures.

Munich Re, the world's largest re-insurer, had little good news to report in its January 3 wrap-up of disasters in 2012. Hurricane Sandy, droughts in the American Midwest, an Italian earthquake, a series of Midwest tornadoes and Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines were just five of the more than 900 events worldwide that caused $160 billion-worth of damage (122 billion euros) to the worldwide economy.
Since 2006 it has been rare for worldwide disasters to number under 900 in any given year. This is in stark contrast to the 1980s, when a terrible year might have seen a mere 500 disasters.