.jpg)
The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), a segregated portfolio company that limits the impact of catastrophes by providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered, has announced that it recently made two payouts to the government of the Bahamas totaling $12.8 million. The payouts were made in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, which caused widespread devastation in the northern part of the country. The hurricane affected two of the 16 main islands that make up the Bahamian archipelago.
The Bahamas has three tropical cyclone policies and three excess rainfall policies with CCRIF, each covering a zone of the archipelago. The government received about $11.5 million from the triggering of its tropical cyclone policy and about $1.3 million from its excess rainfall policy in the North West zone, which includes the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, which were battered for two days after Dorian made landfall September 01.
CCRIF payouts are generally made within 14 days of an event, but in this case the company made an advance payment of 50% of the preliminary estimated payout for a tropical cyclone within seven days, with the remaining half paid within the 14-day window.
“The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility is worth it,” said Peter Turnquest, deputy prime minister of the Bahamas. “The hurricane insurance is going to give us roughly $10.9 million [the initial estimated payout], which is more or less in line with what we expected.”
Since its inception in 2007, CCRIF has made 40 payouts, totaling about $152 million, to 13 of its 21 member governments. A CCRIF team, led by CEO Isaac Anthony, plans to visit the Bahamas within the next two weeks to work with the government on recovery efforts, the company said. Anthony and his team will also work with the Bahamian government to determine how CCRIF can provide additional support through its technical assistance (TA) program. The program provides resources to support specific projects following natural disasters. In 2012, the Bahamas received a TA grant of $85,000 for the construction of a new sea wall in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Similar grants have been provided over the years to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Belize following natural disasters.
