Hurricane Earl (4-5/08/2016): event preliminary briefing
On August 18, CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) made a payout to the Government of Belize under its excess rainfall insurance policy, as a result of heavy rains that affected the country on August 4 and 5 during Hurricane Earl.
The National Emergency Management Organization reported that the rains caused widespread flooding, resulting in damage to homes and businesses, interruptions of water and electricity services and losses to the tourism and agriculture industries.
Belize purchased excess rainfall coverage for the first time for the 2016/17 policy year, which began on June 1st. This report describes the results of the Caribbean Rainfall Model on CCRIF member country Belize. The Caribbean Rainfall Model indicated that a Covered Area Rainfall Event (CARE) was generated in Saint Lucia, starting on 4 August and ending on 6 August 2016. As a consequence of the heavy rainfall from Tropical Cyclone Matthew over Belize, the Rainfall Index Loss (RIL) calculated for this CARE was above the Attachment Point of the country’s Excess Rainfall policy. Therefore the policy was triggered, indicating that a payout is due.
CCRIF’s parametric insurance policies are insurance contracts that make payments based on the intensity of an event (for example, amount of rainfall) and the amount of loss calculated in a pre-agreed model caused by the event. Therefore payouts can be made very quickly after a hazard event. This is different from traditional insurance settlements that require an on-the-ground assessment of individual losses after an event before a payment can be made.
CCRIF CEO, Mr. Isaac Anthony stated, “The CCRIF Board and Team are relieved that there was no loss of life – and we hope that the funds received from CCRIF will be useful to the Government of Belize in their recovery efforts. We wish the Government and people of Belize a rapid recovery.”