C’bean insurance facility pays out US$29.2m after Hurricane Matthew
CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC ) — The Cayman Islands-based Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) says it has made payments totalling more than US$29.2 million to several Caribbean countries following the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew when it carved its way through the region earlier this month.
The CCRIF said that payments were made to Haiti, the most affected country where at least 400 people were killed, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and St Lucia.
CCRIF Chief Executive Officer Isaac Anthony on Thursday presented a cheque for US$3.7 million to St Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, who said “this cheque will be going directly to strengthening and rebuilding our agriculture sector and to paying for some of the costs that we have”.
Anthony congratulated St Lucia on its commitment to securing catastrophe insurance through CCRIF and stressed that it is essential for all countries to have some form of disaster risk coverage.
The CCRIF said that 31 individuals here received pay-outs totalling US$102,000 on their Livelihood Protection Policies (LPPs) due to Hurricane Matthew.
“This micro-insurance product was developed under the Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean Project implemented by the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) in collaboration with CCRIF, MicroEnsure and Munich Re. The LPP provides insurance coverage to low-income persons such as small farmers, day labourers, tourism workers, fisher folk etc for extreme weather events such as rainfall and wind,” the CCRIF added.
“The LPP also is available in Jamaica and Grenada and MCII, CCRIF and other partners plan to expand access to other countries in the region starting early next year,” the CCRIF said, noting that since its inception in 2007, it has made a total of 21 pay-outs to 10 member governments totalling almost US$68 million.
“CCRIF members consistently indicate that these rapid pay-outs are an invaluable benefit of membership. Almost immediately after an event, CCRIF is able to inform countries if their policies were triggered and if so, the approximate pay-outs amount. These infusions of cash within two weeks after an event are critical for immediate repair and recovery activities,” CCRIF added.
