You’re on the trip of a lifetime, relaxing on the beach in Southeast Asia, when the unthinkable happens – a tsunami warning.
Around the world, tsunamis, wildfires, floods and typhoons are being reported with greater frequency by Riskline, a travel risk intelligence company that provides data to travel insurance companies.
Wildfire alerts grew 84 per cent to 633 alerts globally during 2024 compared to 2023, according to Riskline. During the same period, tropical storm alerts grew 20 per cent and floods grew almost 40 per cent.
Tropical storms, and floods are forecast to have a quieter year in 2025 than 2024, however wildfire alerts quadrupled during the first half of 2025 with 579 incidents compared to 153 in the first half of 2024.
Tsunamis have also been occurring with greater frequency this year. To September 2025, 127 tsunamis had been recorded worldwide, more than double that of 2024 and more than triple that of 2023.
Riskline analyst for the Americas, Marco Tulio Lara, said flooding from heavy rainfall caused fatalities and widespread disruptions across the globe in 2024.
He said some of the most affected countries included the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Kenya, China, Myanmar, India, Niger, Nepal, Mali, Spain, Malaysia and Thailand.
“As we approach the end of 2025, tropical storms and flooding events continue to frequently impact the lives of billions of people,” he told Explore.
“Whereas 2024 was an unusually active year regarding extreme weather, 2025 events have also been largely disruptive with countries such as Australia, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, South Korea, United States, South Africa, Malaysia, Mozambique and Argentina among those that stand out.”
So, what should you do if you’re travelling during one of these natural disasters? And does travel insurance cover natural disasters?
Will travel insurance cover your trip?
All travel insurance companies work differently, so you should always check the inclusions, coverage and fine print before purchasing a travel insurance policy.
But yes, some travel insurance companies do cover for natural disaster.
Let’s use Cover-More Travel Insurance as an example. Its policies cover for medical expenses, additional expenses like accommodation, and amendment or cancellation costs if you or your travel plans are directly affected by a natural disaster.
The company’s chief sales officer, Todd Nelson, said you must have purchased your travel insurance policy before the date that the “event” was no longer “unforeseeable”, to be covered.
“The best way to check your cover is by reading the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) that you receive when you purchase your policy,” Mr Nelson said.
“In our PDS, Cover-More defines a natural disaster as a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the earth; examples are bushfire, hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, earthquake, tsunami, falling object from space (including a meteorite), and in general any extraordinary atmospheric, meteorological, seismic, or geological phenomenon.”
What should you do if you’re travelling when disaster strikes?
If you’re travelling when a natural disaster strikes, here are some things you should do, according to Cover-More:
- Contact your travel insurer’s 24/7 emergency assistance team as soon as possible.
- Follow local authorities’ instructions.
- Your travel insurer can help you plan your evacuation.
- Keep track of your receipts and invoices.
Read the full article on The Standard’s website.