BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jul 18 2015 – The Board of Directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved grant assistance of US$2.37 million to the Government of Haiti to meet the country’s insurance premium for coverage being provided by the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) for the 2015-2016 hurricane season.
Haiti is one of 16 Caribbean nations that buy policies from CCRIF, which provides rapid cash payments to help Regional Governments maintain essential services in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
“This grant assistance is just part of our ongoing commitment to support the Government of Haiti in its efforts to better mitigate and manage the impacts of natural disasters. CDB will remain a close development partner and help Haiti advance and emerge as a stronger, more resilient economy,” said Dr. Warren Smith, President of the CDB.
Haiti continues to recover from the catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010, which caused more than 300,000 deaths, displaced more than three million people and made more than one million homeless. Since then, the country experienced devastating torrential rainfall, flooding and other localised disasters in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
At a July 3 meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Caribbean agencies involved with climate change, including CCRIF, Dr. Smith affirmed that building resilience to natural hazards is central to CDB’s mandate to reduce poverty in the region. He added that adequate resourcing is urgently needed given the economic constraints faced by Caribbean countries.
