The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) have formalised a partnership to develop strategies for mitigating the physical and economic impacts of natural disasters.
According to a joint statement, the MoU was signed last Wednesday at the offices of the Caribbean Development Bank in Bridgetown, Barbados. CCRIF Chairman Milo Pearson and CDERA Coordinator Jeremy Collymore signed the agreement.
The objectives of the MoU are to promote the use of catastrophe risk modelling tools to introduce new products and initiatives to assist Caribbean government to better understand and finance catastrophe risk exposures and to share information on real time hazard and impact information.
Pearson said that CCRIF’s participation will allow regional governments to access financial resources in a timely manner to jumpstart their countries economic recovery in the aftermath of a major catastrophe. Over the past two years the CCRIF has paid out about US$500,000 each to Dominica and St Lucia after an earthquake in 2007, and US$6.3M to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. The CCRIF continues to work on developing new products such as an extreme rainfall coverage that will benefit countries throughout the region.
Meanwhile, Collymore said that the MoU strengthens CDERA’s ability to implement the Hyogo Framework for action that aims to reduce countries’ vulnerability to natural hazards. He said the MoU represents the launching of a platform to minimise the haemorrhaging of regional assets, particularly in relation to hydro-meteorological hazards. The release said 19 Caribbean countries along with CCRIF and CDERA member countries are set to benefit from the MoU.
