CCRIF has made two payouts to the government of The Bahamas totaling US$12.8 million in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, which caused widespread destruction in the northern part of the archipelago.

 

A CCRIF team, led by its CEO Isaac Anthony, will visit The Bahamas within the next two weeks to work with the government’s recovery efforts. Support will include helping the country increase its long-term resilience to hydrometeorological hazards such as storms and hurricanes, the frequency and impacts of which are being exacerbated by climate change, said CCRIF in a statement.

 

The Bahamas has three tropical cyclone policies and three excess rainfall policies with CCRIF – each covering a section or zone of the archipelago: North West, South East and Central.

 

The government received US$11 million when its tropical cyclone policy was triggered and US$1.3 million from its excess rainfall policy for the North West zone, which includes Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama.

 

Hurricane Dorian made landfall on Sept. 1 and battered the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, in the north of the archipelago, for two days.

 

CCRIF’s payouts are normally made within 14 days of an event, but in this case, CCRIF made an advance payment of 50% of the preliminary estimated payout for tropical cyclone within seven days to allow the government to begin to address its most pressing needs. The remaining 50% was paid within the 14-day window for CCRIF payouts.

 

Since its inception in 2007, CCRIF has made 40 payouts totaling about US$152 million to 13 of its 21 member governments.

 

Over the years CCRIF has provided governments with additional resources from its Technical Assistance (TA) Programme to support specific projects after a natural disaster. For example, The Bahamas was the recipient in 2012 of a TA grant of US$85,000 following the passage of Hurricane Sandy for the construction of a new sea wall at Sandyport Beach, explained the CCRIF.

 

A segregated portfolio company based in the Cayman Islands, the CCRIF SPC limits the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and excess rainfall events to Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered.

 

CCRIF was developed in 2007 under the technical leadership of the World Bank and with a grant from Japan. It was capitalized through contributions to a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) by Canada, the European Union, the World Bank, the governments of the UK and France, the Caribbean Development Bank and the governments of Ireland and Bermuda, as well as through membership fees paid by participating governments.