CCRIF payout is drop in the bucket to rebuild from Beryl

by Linda Straker

• Grenada has received millions in grant support from various entities
• Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility to pay out EC$118 million
• Carriacou and Petite Martinique and St Patrick declared disaster zones until 30 September

Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall said the EC$118 million (US$44 million) that Grenada has received from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) is a very small amount of what is required to rebuild following damages done by Hurricane Beryl on 1 July.

“Having the payout from CCRIF is just a drop in the bucket. Based on the preliminary assessment that we have on this disaster here in Grenada, Carriacou alone will probably need much more than what the CCRIF payout,” said Cornwall in a news conference on 12 July. He further disclosed that Grenada’s annual premium to the CCRIF is EC$1.5 million.

On 11 July, the CCRIF announced that it would make payouts to the Government of Grenada totalling about US$44 million (EC$118 million) following the passage of Hurricane Beryl, which totally devastated 90% of all buildings — the airport, marinas, gas stations, the hospital and homes — on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, sister islands that comprise the State of Grenada. There was also significant damage to the agriculture sector as well as the natural environment, including mangrove ecosystems.

The most significant damages were done to the northern part of Grenada, with Carriacou and Petite Martinique and St Patrick receiving the worst, and these areas are currently declared disaster zones under the 2023 Disaster Management Act until 30 September.

“I do not want to talk about what is happening in the St Patrick side of things because we had significant damage in St Patrick, St Mark and some parts of St Andrew’s,” said Cornwall.

The finance minister assured that all relief funding received because of the hurricane will be used wisely. “Do not think that it’s a lot of money that we have received and that it is going to be sufficient or we can go about willy nilly spending it …we have to be prudent, we have to manage what we have and ensure that we can do what we need to do even if we have to basically turn to other sources of financing to make sure we can rebuild in a bigger and better way.”

Though a rapid assessment for damages was conducted as required under the Disaster Management Act, the finance minister said that he is yet to receive a copy of the report. “But from my layman observation, looking around I can tell you that both agriculture and housing have received significant damage,” he said.

Since the passage of the hurricane, Grenada has received millions in grant support, including US$100,000 from China, US$1 million from USAID, US$500,000 from the Caribbean Development Bank, US$100,000 from CAF, US$500,000 from the Caricom Development Fund, EC$1 million from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, EC$250,000 from the Government of Anguilla, and EC$1.8 million through a relief fund set up at a local bank.