Losses, damages and return period of extreme weather events in the Maltese Islands

Abstract

Small island states are highly vulnerable to the pervasive impact of natural disasters on their population, environment and economy; however research in this area as far as weather disasters and their after-effect is concerned is considerably limited. This is especially true for the Maltese islands. The scope of this paper is to provide a much-needed evaluation of local extreme weather events and their economic impact, and even more challenging, on their return period in light of a changing climate. This is done by researching the insurance loss and damage following a select number of Maltese extreme weather events that have occurred between 2011 and 2013. It is hoped that this knowledge will encourage further national risk mitigation and prevention measures.