GRAND CAYMAN– Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) will pay The Bahamas approximately US$10,936,103 following the passage of hurricane Dorian that caused widespread devastation in the northern part of the 700-island archipelago,  on  September 1, and battered the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, in the north of the archipelago, for two days.

The Bahamas has three tropical cyclone policies with CCRIF, each one covering a section or zone of the archipelago – North West, South East and Central. It is the tropical cyclone policy for the North West Zone – which includes the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama that was triggered.

CCRIF’s payouts are made within 14 days of an event, but in this case CCRIF made an advance payment of 50 percent of the payout to allow the government to begin to address its most pressing needs. The remaining 50 percent to be paid within the 14-day window for all CCRIF payouts.

CCRIF chief executive officer (CEO) Isaac Anthony, contacted the government of The Bahamas to inform them of the payout and to express the facility’s own commiseration for the many lives lost and to pledge support to the government as it seeks to recover and rebuild not just infrastructure but also lives.  In acknowledging the destruction and damage wrought on the northern islands of The Bahamas, Anthony expressed some relief that Dorian spared most of the other islands.

This additional support that could be provided by CCRIF to the government of The Bahamas will come from the facility’s corporate social responsibility or technical assistance (TA) programme…[+]