The Birch glacier collapse that destroyed much of the Swiss town of Blatten highlights the potential for similar disasters because of climate change, Aon says.

Millions of cubic metres of rock, ice and mud crashed into the valley settlement on May 28, wrecking about 130 buildings and leaving others damaged by floods resulting from a river blockage.

“Fortunately, monitoring and early evacuations prevented significant human losses, but local insurers experienced one of the most expensive natural disasters in the country’s history,” Aon says in its latest Global Catastrophe Recap.

“Several studies have found that climate change significantly affects alpine mass movements, leading to a likely increase in the number of similar events in future.”

Swiss insurers have estimated losses at 320 million Swiss francs ($612 million).

Aon says worldwide insured losses from January to June are expected to be at least $US100 billion ($150 billion), the second highest on record. The total is topped only by $US140 billion ($210 billion) for the same period in 2011.

More than 90% of the insured losses were in the US, driven by the Palisades and Eaton fires in California and severe convective storms.

The most significant event in Australia was Ex-Cyclone Alfred in southeast Queensland in March – the first cyclone to hit the region since Wanda in 1974.

See ANALYSIS.