Turks and Caicos Gets $6.3 Million from Insurance Fund

The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) made its first payout of approximately $6.3 million to the government of the Turks and Caicos, under the terms of a hurricane policy that was purchased at the start of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

Funds from the payout will help boost recovery efforts following Hurricane Ike, which hit Grand Turk, Salt Cay and South Caicos as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 6.

The CCRIF is a regional insurance fund launched in 2007 for Caribbean governments and is designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes by quickly providing financial liquidity when a policy is triggered.

Floyd Hall, deputy premier and minister of finance for the Turks and Caicos, said that the destination “is now in a position to benefit from an initiative that the government has taken with an insurance program through CARICOM dealing with disasters in this region.”

Meanwhile, residents on Grand Turk now have water, but it will be six months before all electricity is restored, according to Caesar Campbell, head of the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association.

Grand Turk’s dive sites had minimal damage. Most of the island’s 40,000 stayover visitors last year came to dive and snorkel. The island welcomed 500,000 cruise passengers as well.