October 30, 2009 – The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility announces the publication of the first issue of CCRIF News, a quarterly newsletter that provides recent news about CCRIF and its partners.  This issue discusses the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between CCRIF and the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); presents CCRIF’s Strategic Plan to 2012; provides an update on the excess rainfall product being developed by CCRIF and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and Kinetic Analysis Corporation (Kinanco); and highlights CCRIF’s contributions to international climate change discussions and the Facility’s support for climate change adaptation in the Caribbean region.

CCRIF News Vol. 1 No. 1 September 2009 can be found on the CCRIF website – www.ccrif.org

Two other new publications have been released: the CCRIF Annual Report 2008-2009 and the Quarterly Report for June – August 2009.  These can be found on the CCRIF website under the “About Us” section.

About CCRIF: CCRIF is a risk pooling facility, owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean for Caribbean governments. It is designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes to Caribbean governments by quickly providing short term liquidity when a policy is triggered.  It is the world’s first regional fund utilising parametric insurance, giving Caribbean governments the unique opportunity to purchase earthquake and hurricane catastrophe coverage with lowest-possible pricing.  CCRIF represents a paradigm shift in the way governments treat risk, with Caribbean governments leading the way in pre-disaster planning.

Sixteen governments are members of the fund: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Last year CCRIF paid out approximately US$6.3M to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

For more information, see the CCRIF website at www.ccrif.org

CCRIF Corporate Communications
Sustainability Managers Ltd, email: PR@ccrif.org