* If I were serious about figuring out whether the cost figures for natural disasters were attributable primarily to increased costs or primarily to increased s

* If I were serious about figuring out whether the cost figures for natural disasters were attributable primarily to increased costs or primarily to increased severity of natural disasters, I'd use earthquakes as a comparison -- if it's an increase-of-cost issue, then I'd expect to see the same increase-of-cost for historical earthquakes. If the increase-of-cost for earthquakes is substantially less than of the natural disasters in this report, then I'd be inclined to attribute it to a greater frequency and severity of natural disasters.* On the other hand, we've got a lot better at building earthquake-resistant structures. Also, the number of earthquakes causing any significant damage in the United States over the past two hundred years is small enough to be statistically iffy.