Barbados island to receive payouts from CCRIF

Barbados: The Barbados government would receive two payouts of amount US$2.5 million from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility - CCRIF.

CCRIF made the announcement on Thursday. Barbados government would receive the payouts under its tropical cyclone & excess rainfall parametric insurance facilities. This is CCRIF's first payout for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season to the island's government.

The CCRIF did not wait for on-ground assessments of the total loss and damage to the n –ion, unlike with indemnity insurance – to make payouts, therefore allowing the payment of funds within 14 days of an event.

While the Barbados government is still evaluating the loss, it suffered from Hurricane Elsa.

CCRIF, in a statement, added, "Parametric insurance which is offered by CCRIF is very distinct from conventional indemnity insurance."

It further states that the parametric insurance products or services of CCRIF make payments on the basis of the intensity of a natural hazard event.

In the media conference which was conducted last Friday, the Prime Minister of Barbados - Mia Amor Mottley, stated that approximately 2,177 homes were damaged because of the weather system, which got struck on July 2, 2021.

Out of these damaged houses, 475 were destroyed in St Michael, 411 in Christ Church, 288 in St Philip, and 284 damaged in George.

Following the statement, PM Mottley informed that around 352 homes would have been rebuilt from scratch while about 968 homes would be repaired, and 18 people had requested materials rather than having their houses rebuilt or repaired.

So far, CCRIF has done seven payouts to the island country of the total amount worth US$21.8 million. Despite this, the CCRIF insurance facility has also given the payments of a total of US$528,512 to its other three member governments such as - Haiti, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The payments to the three-member countries were provided under the ADC - Aggregate Deductible Cover, which is a feature of CCRIF's tropical cyclone policies resulting from the damage nations received from Hurricane Elsa.