by Linda Straker
- Heavy rainfalls mainly affected northern portion of western and eastern parishes
- Preliminary assessment will determine if Government files with CCRIF SPC
- No fatalities due to landslides or rivers overflowing their banks
Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall said that Government is assessing the damages incurred from the heavy rainfalls associated with a shear line that mainly affected the northern portion of the western and eastern parishes on Tuesday, 19 December 2023.
He said that the findings of the preliminary assessment will determine if Government files a claim with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company (CCRIF SPC). Grenada is one of 19 member Caribbean governments, but has never received a payout.
Founded in 2007, CCRIF is an insurance company with the first multi-country risk pool in the world and the first insurance instrument to successfully develop parametric backed by both traditional and capital markets. These parametric policies release funds based upon factors of a calamity, such as rainfall or wind speed, which can speed up the payout of policies rather than after damage assessment. CCRIF helps to mitigate the short-term cash flow problems small developing economies suffer after major natural disasters.
“Before we file a claim to that organisation, we must first and foremost have an assessment as to what are the damages, in other words, what is the value damages incurred; once we do that, we will then be able to contact the entity to file a claim if needs be,” said Cornwall who is the member of Parliament for one of the areas severely affected.
“That claim that we will be filing is not a grant; it is a soft loan that we are thinking about,” he added, pointing out that the report from the National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA) and other relevant agencies must be part of Government’s assessment complication for Grenada to tell the organisations how much damage incurred or experience.
Dr Terence Walters, Director of NaDMA, said that his statutory body will work with the Ministry of Infrastructure to ensure the damage and costs are provided. “I cannot tell you if it will be within a day or 2, but as quickly as possible.”
Joseph Andall, Member of Parliament for St Patrick East, said that from touring his constituency, there is massive infrastructural damage. “There is severe erosion and massive earth movement,” he said, confirming that a village in a mountain area is currently inaccessible because the road leading to the community is impassable due to landslides.
Press Secretary Neila Ettienne said there were no fatalities due to landslides or rivers overflowing their banks, but the homes of several families were either displaced or lost due to landslides.
