From a catastrophe standpoint, the beginning of 2010 must havehad more than a few U.S. insurers dreading the rest of the year asearthquakes and a serious winter storm in Europe brought calamityto far-off points of the world.

However, the dire warnings of a fearsomely active hurricaneseason pretty much bypassed the United States, instead wreakinghavoc on less developed nations where the insurance penetration waspractically nonexistent.

Early January experienced two notable earthquake incidents.

A 6.5 magnitude quake off the northern coast of California wasfelt as far away as Reno, Nev., and Eugene, Ore. No significantdamage or injuries were reported. One modeler's estimate put totaldamage at more than $12 million but said it would not produce asignificant number of insurance claims.

Days later, a more significant earthquake event occurred,devastating Haiti with a 7.0 magnitude quake, destroying thenation's capital Port-au-Prince and inflicting billions of dollarsin economic damage the country continues to suffer today.

In insurance terms, losses in Haiti were considered minimal withthe island nation holding a total property and casualty marketunder $20 million.

The two events prompted the Insurance Information Institute toissue a warning that the United States is vulnerable to thesame devastation experienced in Haiti and to urge homeowners inearthquake-prone areas to purchase earthquake insurance. The I.I.I.noted that only 12 percent of California homeowners have earthquakecoverage.

Soon to follow in late February was the 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Maule, Chile. That event, in a moredeveloped nation, produced insured loss estimates between $2billion and $10 billion.

That event was the first of eight natural catastrophes aroundthe globe to cost the worldwide insurance industry more than $1 billionin 2010, according to a recent Swiss Re report.

Earthquakes in Taiwan and Turkey followed in March.

A catastrophe modeler's estimate of the 6.4 magnitude quake inTaiwan put the economic damage at less than $1 billion, while inTurkey the 5.9 magnitude earthquake took 51 lives in the sparselypopulated province of eastern Elazig. Insured losses were expectedto be insignificant because insurance penetration is low in thenation.

At around the same time Chile suffered its earthquake, Europesuffered a winter storm. Winter storm Xynthia swept throughPortugal, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg andGermany. One estimate put insured losses at up to $4 billion fromthat storm alone.

By the midpoint of the year, Moody's Investor Services notedthat U.S. p&c insurer's earnings were down from catastrophessuffered during the first half of the year. Positive reservedevelopment, however, offset the downtrend to some degree, therating agency said.

In September, New Zealand was rocked by a 7.0 magnitudeearthquake and modelers put insured losses at between $1 billionand $4.5 billion. The event was significant enough to push down netincome for a number of Bermuda reinsurers by 20-50 percent in the thirdquarter. Earlier this month, one Bermuda company, PartnerRe, saidclaims from the event that were newly filed in November andDecember might push the industrywide loss up to $5.5 billion andthe Pembroke, Bermuda-based reinsurer's individual loss up toaround $150 million, more than doubling an initial Septemberestimate of $64 million.

Other, smaller catastrophes also contributed to insurerlosses.

Severe storm damage from hail and wind continued to take a tollon insurers throughout the year. Munich Re estimated that a totalof 725 weather events from January to September caused $18 billionin damage and were an indication of a probable link betweenincreased weather extremes and climate change.

Storms continued to devastate the U.S. and Asia throughout theyear, and an active hurricane season took a toll on the Caribbean.

Hurricane Tomas passed through the region in late October withenough force to trigger payment out of the Caribbean CatastropheRisk Insurance Facility totaling $12.6 million to the governmentsof Barbados, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada.

However, as fearful as that was, the real concern–a majorhurricane striking the U.S. coast–did not materialize. A total of19 named storms sprang up during the Atlantic Hurricane season,with 12 becoming hurricanes.

Tropical storm Bonnie and tropical storm Hermine were the onlynotable named storms to make it to the U.S. shore.

Bonnie first hit Miami with 40 mph winds that caused virtuallyno damage and later broke up as it hit the Louisiana coastline inJuly.

Hermine crossed into Texas in mid-September, generating around$100 million in insured losses from tornadoes and heavy rains.

In a report on the reinsurance industry, Moody's InvestorService said worldwide catastrophe losses were in line with the average over the last20 years in 2009 dollars. Swiss Re said natural catastrophes cost the global insurance industry $31 billionthis year and man-made disasters triggered $5 billion inadditional losses for a total cost of $36 billion.