Global insured catastrophe losses reached $107bn from 253 events in 2011, marking the second highest annual total on record behind the $120bn in cat losses amassed in hurricane-heavy 2005, according to global reinsurance broker Aon Benfield's Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe report, released Tuesday. The 10 largest disasters in 2011 – including four weather events, three earthquakes, two floods and one tropical cyclone – accounted for 81% of total insured losses, the report said. The report, published by Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting cat modeling unit, said that total economic losses from the year's catastrophes totaled $435m. "The most fatal, destructive and costly natural disasters of 2011 impacted countries in North and South America, Asia, Europe, Australasia and Oceania", said Aon Benfield Analytics chief executive Stephen Mildenhall, who noted that the year's total insured losses were more than 2½ times the 2010 figure, which in turn was almost double the 2009 figure. Aon Benfield said that the year's costliest disaster was the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which claimed 16,000 lives and caused around $35bn in insured losses and $210bn in economic losses. The two quakes that struck New Zealand caused a combined $15bn in insured losses, the report said.