Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Australia’s natural disaster risk was increasing and urged its governments to cover the rising damages bill using insurance instruments like catastrophe bonds as opposed to one-off disaster levies. “Mounting exposure in Australia to catastrophes…we …
Residents in Australia’s third largest city, Brisbane, sandbagged their homes against rising waters on Monday as torrential rain worsened floods that have paralyzed the coal industry in the northeast and now threaten tourism. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the cost …
Australia faces almost double the number of destructive tropical cyclones, possibly as many as 22, across oil and gas, iron ore and sugar production regions during 2010/11 cyclone season, the weather bureau said. The above-average number of cyclones are a …
A huge outback dust storm swept eastern Australia and blanketed Sydney on Wednesday, disrupting transport, forcing people indoors and stripping thousands of tons of valuable farmland topsoil. The dust blacked out the outback town of Broken Hill on Tuesday, forcing …
Australians Lesley and Doug McGrath have for decades battled ocean swells that have eaten away at the backyard of their multi-million dollar Sydney home. They bought an old beach shack on Collaroy Beach in 1976 and replaced it with a …
The development of an El Nino weather pattern is increasing and at this stage may be a medium-strength event, but it could take months for it to be officially declared, Australia’s weather bureau said. “We are warming reasonably rapidly. The …
A terrorism alert system installed in thousands of merchant ships after the September 11, 2001 attacks is flawed because it does not immediately notify local security authorities of an attack, said a report on the system. The Ship Security Alert …
