Insurer says 1998 was `a black year'

Munich - 1998 was a black year for natural catastrophes, which claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people around the planet, the world's largest re-insurer, Munich Re, said yesterday. Economic losses as a result of the catastrophes exceeded $90 billion in 1998, compared with only $30 billion in 1997, when 13,000 people lost their lives as a result of natural disasters.