Disasters cost Australia at least $2.7 billion last year, affecting about 8940 people and claiming 22 lives, according to the International Red Cross.

The costliest events were ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald in Queensland and major fires in NSW and Tasmania, the group’s annual World Disasters Report says.

Globally, disasters cost $137 billion in economic losses, affecting about 100 million people.

In Asia alone more than 87 million people were affected and 22,875 killed. The two deadliest disasters were in Asia: Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, which caused economic losses of $11.5 billion and claimed 7968 lives; and the June monsoon floods in India, which killed 6054 people.

The costliest disaster in the world was a flood in Germany, with losses of almost $15 billion.

Floods remain the most common natural disaster, accounting for 44% of deaths, followed by storms (41%).

Overall, there were 337 natural disasters and 192 technological disasters in the world last year, with the number of events and people affected the lowest for a decade, the report says.

The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, which compiles the data, predicts the annual cost of disasters will triple to $478 billion by 2030.

The report challenges governments and disaster management agencies to factor culture and human behaviour into their plans, saying that otherwise “disaster risk reduction projects will fail because they ignore how people really relate to risk”.

In the past 10 years Asia-Pacific has accounted for more than 65% of deaths from disasters.