Private Sector Urged to Support National Disaster Insurance Fund

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is appealing to the private sector to contribute to the National Disaster Insurance Fund to increase it from $150 million to $30 billion.
Director General of ODPEM, Ronald Jackson made the appeal yesterday (May 30) at the press launch of Disaster Preparedness Month which is observed in June.
“My biggest concern is that we need more partnerships to grow that fund so that it can do more of the things that are necessary after an event and put less pressure on the national budget,” he said.
The appeal came against the backdrop of $22 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Dean last year, which Jamaica was unable to recover from the Caribbean Risk Catastrophe Insurance Fund, because the weather system did not meet the qualifying wind speed of over 150 miles per hour.
When questioned about possible private sources, Mr. Jackson noted that there are avenues to pursue the private sector in areas that best benefit their interests and benevolence. He noted that the National Commercial Bank could be an ideal sponsor. “We can appeal to NCB in the sense that they could contribute to benefit education, their contribution to the fund could be earmarked for education, since that is an area which NCB feels strongly on,” he stated.
In justifying the hefty increase in the country’s self insurance, Mr. Jackson pointed to experience which has shown that “we get events three to four times in a year which cumulatively will run you up to $50 billion”. He said therefore, “what you need is some internal mechanism that does not draw heavily on the national budget, as that might affect the country’s economic growth programme”.
The fund is being managed by the ODPEM under the strict guidelines of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. There is a subcommittee that is made up of ODPEM staff and private sector entities and is overseen by a Board of Directors.
“So, it’s not just a willy-nilly pull down, you have to identify losses and get the sign-off,” Mr. Jackson said, stressing that in order to use the fund, there are policy procedures that have to be followed and involve the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.