It would be extremely surprising if the Jamaican Government has not been in touch with the managers of the scheme and its partners in the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk-Insurance Facility (CCRIF) to intensify discussion on adjustments to the trigger for payouts under the scheme.

Kingston, too, should be pushing for the acceleration of work on feasibility studies to determine whether specific economic sectors, such as agriculture, can be brought under the umbrella of this insurance facility. And, if so, how?

Let's be clear. We believe that the CCRIF, championed by the former finance minister, Omar Davies, and being used as model by the World Bank in other regions, is a good idea. It allows 16 countries in the region to pool premiums to provide catastrophe insurance, particularly against hurricanes and earthquakes. Over the past two years, Jamaica has paid nearly US$8 million in premiums and other fees to the scheme.

The problem, however, is that over the period, Jamaica has suffered significant damage from two storms, Hurricane Dean last year, and Tropical Storm Gustav, less than a fortnight ago. Each not only disrupted people's lives but left billions of dollars worth of damage, including infrastructure. Indeed, the images of the ripped-up roadway in the Bog Walk gorge and of the roaring waters in the Hope River where a bridge used to stand, dramatically tell the story.

The Government, in all likelihood, will now be forced to squeeze an already tight fiscal position if it is to meet budget and macro-economic targets and maintain the confidence of financial markets. So, it will be difficult for it to repair the damaged roads and bridges, schools and so on, and still meet its basic obligations.

parametric scheme

Yet, the Government can make no claims on the CCRIF, which might have provided budgetary support to help pull the country through a difficult period while the administration begins the process of recovery with external donor support.

The issue is that the CCRIF is a parametric scheme. It pays indemnities on the basis of pre-determined measurements, such as wind speed over a specific time, in a specific area.

A misfortune of sorts for Jamaica is that whereas Dean and Gustav left a trail of destruction and serious economic woe, they did not reach hurricane intensity over Jamaica. And certainly not of the category of hurricane that would trigger a payout under the CCRIF. Under the system, Gustav would be deemed "a severe rainfall event".

While the CCRIF remains largely a good system, we believe, on the face of it, that there is need for adjustments to its trigger points, taking into account what has been revealed by the impact of weather events over the past two years. At the very least, the managers and partners of the CCRIF have to act with urgency to create new products, such as the one proposed for agriculture, to complement those currently on offer.

For, as events of the recent years have shown, a hurricane need not be of Category Three intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale to inflict much damage to a country like Jamaica. And the absence of an insurance cushion when such events occur merely exacerbates the country's economic problems and deepens the potential for a severe crisis, which was what the CCRIF was established to mitigate.