GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, CMC—The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF SPC) has launched a new initiative to ensure that the region “does not forget the lessons learned” from Hurricane Ivan’s passage 20 years ago.
CCRIF is spearheading the Ivan+20 Initiative in collaboration with Caribbean governments and regional organizations, including the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and The University of the West Indies (UWI).
It was launched under the theme “Ivan+20: Remembering the Past, Reflecting on the Present, and Visioning for the Future: 20 Years Since Ivan… Resilience, Adaptation, Sustainability in Caribbean SIDS”.
Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. It impacted Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Western Cuba, and the Yucatan Peninsula as a devastating Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir/Simpson scale.
The organizers said the initiative’s goal is “to collectively restate our commitments to ensuring that we never forget and adopt the lessons learned from Hurricane Ivan, push forward, take charge, and create the resilient and sustainable future we want.
“Ivan+20 will include a year-long series of events that engage Caribbean governments, regional organizations, academic institutions, civil society organizations, the private sector, youth and children, and the general public.”
It will also celebrate the Caribbean region’s progress concerning comprehensive disaster risk management (CDRM) and create an environment that will enable the collective vision of a sustainable and resilient future that will be made in the next 20 years.
“We are not here to celebrate Ivan, but to celebrate the collective action and the collective will that came out of Ivan,” said CCRIF chief executive officer Isaac Anthony.
“It is about remembering the past and imagining the future as one Caribbean—a set of small island and coastal developing states anticipating changes and building resilience, securing a sustainable future for its peoples and creating a best-practice example for other islands and coastal states globally,” he added.
CCRIF said the Ivan+20 concept is, therefore, much more than a remembrance of Hurricane Ivan, which, in 2004, devastated nine countries in the Caribbean, causing loss of life, destruction of houses and communities, homelessness, damage to infrastructure – including electric utilities transmission and distribution systems, and resulting in regional losses of over six billion US dollars.
CCRIF said it regards itself as a by-product of Hurricane Ivan, noting that as an organization, the introduction of parametric insurance in the Caribbean was born out of Ivan. Following Hurricane Ivan, CARICOM leaders approached the World Bank for assistance in designing and implementing a cost-effective catastrophe risk financing mechanism for its member governments, enabling them to access quick liquidity following a natural disaster.
Since CCRIF’s inception in 2007, it has made 64 payouts, totaling US$268 million, to 17 of its 26 members, all within 14 days of an event.
CCRIF chairman and Governor of the St. Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Timothy Antoine said that CCRIF was a solution not only for the Caribbean but also for Central America. We have also extended our impact to Central America, and since 2015, we have continued to grow our membership in Central America.
“More than that, we have inspired other regions in the world – Africa, the Pacific, and more recently Southeast Asia- to model themselves on CCRIF SPC. I make these points to show the legacy of Hurricane Ivan in the Caribbean and beyond the Caribbean,” he added.
Cayman Islands Premier and Minister of Finance Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and Michael Nixon, the Senior Assistant Financial Secretary, were present at the launch. Nixon recalled that Ivan was an “unforgettable and devastating” experience for the Cayman Islands.
“We have been partners with CCRIF since its creation. CCRIF has done an exemplary job of bringing products that fit countries’ needs, which supports alleviating some of the financial risk [burdens] associated with disasters. We continue to work with CCRIF. We are honored today to stand next to them to launch the Ivan+20 initiative that will take place for the remainder of this year.”
CDEMA’s Deputy Executive Director, Kester Craig, said, “Hurricane Ivan was a watershed event in the history of disaster management in the region, precipitating not only the establishment of CCRIF but also a diversity of improvements in CDEMA’s regional response mechanism.”
Pro Vice-Chancellor Global Affairs at The UWI, Sandrea Maynard, reiterated the importance of the year-long set of activities, saying, “The significance of commemorating the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Ivan and reflecting on the journey towards resilience is a very important one for the region and the activities, such as the resilience dialogues, sharing best practices and engaging the youth in shaping a resilient future, are poised to be very impactful and engaging”.
Ivan+20’s year of activities will culminate with the integration of Ivan+, which will be held in St. Kitts-Nevis from December 2-6 this year.
and then  has launched a new initiative to ensure){kind=link}