February's Christchurch earthquake is wearing much of the blame for a 697 million pounds half-year loss by the world's largest insurance market Lloyd's of London.
Its underwriting syndicates have been forced to absorb 6.7 billion pounds in claims.
An unprecedented run of catastrophes in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the US has led to insurers paying out billions, making the first half of this year the costliest six-month period in the insurance market's 323-year history.
Lloyd's outgoing chairman Lord Levene of Portsoken described 2011 as one of the most challenging years on record for the insurance industry, with major natural catastrophes in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the US.
But he said Lloyd's ability to pay billions in claims to help these communities rebuild is unquestioned.
