2023-06-11 15:53:33
The policy with the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Mechanism (CCRIF) of the World Bank (WB) was recently acquired by the state of Guatemala, with coverage throughout the national territory for damages caused by excessive rains during the winter.
Edwin Martínez Cameros, Minister of Public Finance, reported that the new CCRIF policy aims to cover all geographic areas, since the previous coverage only covered certain sectors. The objective is to have financial resources at the time of an emergency due to excessive rainfall and to be able to attend to it immediately.
The amount of the policy that was paid to CCRIF is US$800 thousand (about Q6.2 million) and the operation was carried out during May 2023.
The official explained that one of the favorable aspects of this insurance is that an extension of the coverage was achieved in the extension “which will allow that at the moment when some damage occurs, attend to it immediately.”
He cited as an example that the insurance was activated in Guatemala in the winter of 2020, but in 2022, despite the heavy rains, it was not activated due to the coverage areas, but on this occasion broader coverage was contracted.
If the insurance were to be activated, Guatemala would be receiving coverage of about US$7,160,000, which is equivalent to about Q55 million.
A contract in which payments are made based on a predetermined catastrophic event is known as parametric insurance.
emergency funds
Martínez Cameros indicated that there is an item of Q10 million to immediately cover any damage that occurs during the winter, and that civil protection must attend to them urgently.
On the other hand, he specified that there is a budget allocation of Q200 million as an emergency fund, but to use these resources a public calamity regime would have to be decreed, and it has stricter requirements to be able to use it.
incidences
The report of the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) as of June 10, states that the rains and strong winds have caused 121 incidents in the national territory.
- 397 homes with moderate damage
- 24 homes with severe damage
- 83 homes at risk
- 4 bridges affected
- 3 houses with light damage
- 29 roads affected
And the departments with the highest incidences are Alta Verapaz with 14, Sacatepéquez 12 and Jalapa with 10. In addition, 164 thousand 372 affected people are counted, 7 thousand 509 at risk and 426 victims.
In addition, as of June 10, six people have already died as a result of the rainy season in Guatemala.
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