When Hurricane Tomas hit the Caribbean last October, its 70 mile-per-hour winds tearing off roofs, unleashing landslides and killing 69 people, the beleaguered governments of Barbados and Saint Lucia turned to a little-known insurance company for relief. It was a wise move. The insurance company didn’t bother assessing property damage. Instead, it sent US$12 million to the two nations—in Barbados’s case, providing funds within a week. That allowed the countries to pay police, firefighters and other civil servants, thereby keeping the government going—and preventing the paralysis that often exacerbates the impacts of natural disasters. The alacrity of the assistance provided then and after other storms and hurricanes has won the Barbados-based Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) a... [Log in to read more]
