Barbados urged to bulk up disaster response funding

The executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson, warned Barbados officials against relying too heavily on the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) to recover from future natural disasters, urging the government to take further actions to protect the country.

In a courtesy call to Barbados home affairs secretary Edmund Hinkson and deputy permanent secretary Celia Pollard-Jones, CDEMA officials pointed to instances where Barbados triggered CCRIF funds for non-catastrophes, such as tropical storm Matthew.

"Barbados needs to look at its triggering point. You don't want to claim for rainfall and wind damage," government news service GIS Barbados reported Jackson as saying.

The official suggested Barbados adjust its policy to only trigger CCRIF funds when projected losses are commensurate to the amount of the funds released.

CDEMA deputy director Elizabeth Riley noted that CCRIF used a parametric trigger, releasing set funds that do not necessarily correspond to the impact sustained. She used the example of Dominica, which received a payout from the fund of close to US$19mn, though it sustained damage of US$1.3bn.

"You need to have your own fund because the CCRIF will not cover all the costs you will experience," Riley said.

CCRIF was instrumental in recovery funding with last year's hurricanes, issuing payouts totaling US$131mn from its inception in 2007 to December 2017 and US$55mn for damage from Hurricanes Irma and Maria alone. The facility has undergone expansion this year with the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat joining in June.

Meanwhile, Barbados was also urged to give consideration to establishing a continuity of government plan, describing the difficulties faced by Dominica, Grenada, Haiti and the British Virgin Islands in getting back up and running following recent disasters.

In response, Hinkson acknowledged the concerns raised and indicated that his ministry would look into them. He noted that the government was looking to implement a US$2.5mn roof repair program and a building initiative set to be introduced in parliament.

The minister added that government had also committed to devising a regime for houses valued at US$112,500 or less to have insurance. "We must not be naive to think that we will solve these problems overnight," Hinkson said.

CDEMA workshop

The CDEMA reiterated its support role in the event of natural disasters in the Caribbean during a training workshop conducted July 16-20 in St. Phillip, Barbados, in conjunction with Regional Security System Headquarters (RSS HQ) and the the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU).

"If there is one thing that we can be sure of it is that given the high level of vulnerability of our region there will always be a need to respond", said Riley in a CDEMA statement. "In 2017 for the first time, two CDRU teams were requested in one year. The timing of these deployments overlapped and in both cases the requesting governments found such value in the work of the CDRU that extensions were requested to the normal two weeks. Over the years, with every event, we have learned and improved", she said.

The CDRU comprises military, fire and police assets drawn from the 18 CDEMA participating states. The unit is deployed to provide humanitarian assistance in direct support to the civil authorities of any CDEMA state impacted by natural or technological hazards. Its main tasks include the management of relief supplies, emergency telecommunications and the provision of appropriate personnel for repairing critical lifeline facilities.