Caribbean Risk Facility supports Jamaica's Sandy recovery

This week the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalising a donation of $100,000 to the government of Jamaica to aid in the nation’s post-Sandy recovery, despite the failure of the tropical storm to trigger Jamaica’s policy with the captive.

According to CCRIF CEO, Isaac Anthony, the discretionary grant was made in light of the fact that the CCRIF is: “more than just an insurance company—it is a partner with our member countries in national development”.

The CCRIF and Government of Jamaica began talks within a month of Hurricane Sandy, eventually coming to an agreement wherein funds will be released to support the rehabilitation of two residential childcare facilities damaged in the hurricane. Similar donations are being granted to Haiti and the Bahamas.

Antony commented: “when a CCRIF policy is triggered it usually represents severe impacts with much death and destruction, because risk transfer represents that component of a country’s disaster strategy that comes into play when losses are so extreme that usual national budgets are not able to address the extent of losses. We believe that the CCRIF model, as an innovative risk transfer option, has an important role to play in disaster risk management strategies for Caribbean countries vulnerable to hurricanes and earthquakes.”