Belize takes parametric rainfall payout from CCRIF after Amanda/Cristobal

The central American nation of Belize has benefited from a payout of its parametric excess rainfall policy, provided by the CCRIF SPC, after rains from tropical storms Amanda and Cristobal triggered its coverage.

The CCRIF SPC (formerly known as the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility) has already made one payout to Guatemala after the rainfall from these two storm events.

The rainfall from the two tropical storms, Amanda and Cristobal, started on May 31st and fell for around nine days, causing widespread flooding and landslides across central America and parts of Mexico.

Originating as a Pacific side tropical storm named Amanda, the weather system made landfall and crossed the Central American region only to emerge over the Bay of Campeche and intensify back into an Atlantic side tropical storm, named Cristobal.

The resulting rainfall was extreme, with significant downpours hitting the region and Belize being one of the countries impacted.

The Government of Belize has received a US $203,136 payout under its excess rainfall (XSR) parametric insurance policy from the CCRIF.

This payout from rains from storms Amanda and Cristobal was made under Belize’s 2019/20 excess rainfall parametric insurance policy, the country has now renewed for policy year 2020/21.

This is the second payout that Belize has received from the CCRIF parametric coverage, having received US $261,073 following Tropical Cyclone Earl in 2016, money that the Government used for immediate clean-up and recovery purposes.

Since its inception in 2007, CCRIF has made a total of 43 payouts for 21 events (earthquakes, tropical cyclones, and excess rainfall events) to 14 member governments totalling US $155.8 million.

It is only through the pooling of risks, efficiencies gained in the reinsurance market and the use of parametric triggers that the CCRIF has become a key provider of disaster insurance for the Caribbean and Central American regions.