A number of countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of the region’s first disaster risk financing facility.
The Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) will initially comprise a trust and an insurance company in Singapore, working in partnership and with technical support from the World Bank.
It will also provide a catastrophe risk insurance pool for ASEAN+3 countries, which include the Southeast Asian nations plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Representatives from the Finance Ministries of Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Singapore signed the memorandum at the ASEAN+3 Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting in the Republic of Korea last week.
SEADRIF will act as a regional platform to provide ASEAN countries with re/insurance solutions and technical advice to increase their financial resilience to climate and disaster risks.
By supporting pre-disaster planning and post-disaster relief and reconstruction funding, the Facility aims to protect people and their livelihoods while contributing to ongoing economic development and poverty reduction.
The World Bank has supported the project from the outset, and will continue to serve as Lead Technical Partner to the Facility through its Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program.
In this role, the World Bank will build on its previous experience supporting the establishment of similar risk pools in the Caribbean (Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) and the Pacific (Pacific Risk Assessment and Financing Facility).
The establishment of SEADRIF was enabled with the support of several donors and international partners, including early support from Japan, Singapore and other members of the initiative, seed funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, and technical input from the Centre for Global Disaster Protection.
