Natural disaster losses compiled from data trawl

Natural disasters around the globe have resulted in economic losses of roughly $7 trillion since 1900, according to a new calculation from scientists.

The group, led by James Daniell from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, compiled the assessment after scouring the media and old records for all the information it could find on floods, droughts, storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, and wildfires.

Dr Daniell described the process to our correspondent Jonathan Amos.