The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Facility (CCRIF) has launched a new web-based platform through which its members can monitor natural hazards, analyse their intensity, and assess their impact.
The platform, which can monitor earthquakes, heavy rainfall and tropical cyclones, also allows members to check whether an active insurance policy with CCRIF is likely to be triggered.
CCRIF’s Web Monitoring Application, or WeMAp, has already been used to monitor the development of Hurricane Dorian, which passed by Barbados earlier this week, and is likely to impact other Caribbean regions.
WeMAp also includes a Real-Time Forecasting System (RTFS) that shows the expected future development of active tropical cyclones.
This feature is expected to assist in contingency planning, shelter management, and emergency intervention, by identifying the projected path of the cyclone and areas where populations are at risk.
The platform is based on the new CCRIF SPHERA model, which underpins CCRIF’s tropical cyclone and earthquake parametric insurance policies and the CCRIF Excess Rainfall (XSR) 2.5 model, which is used in the Facility’s excess rainfall policies.
CCRIF CEO Isaac Anthony commented on the launch: “I am very pleased that we are able to launch this tool which would add another layer of transparency in terms of the models used to underpin CCRIF’s policies, enabling members to see firsthand how the models work in the context of their policy parameters and an event happening on the ground.”
“WeMAp is among several initiatives that the Facility has been providing to build capacity among our 21 member governments in disaster risk management and financing,” he added.
The main users of WeMAp include finance officials, disaster and emergency managers and meteorological officers as well as regional and non-governmental organizations involved in natural hazard risk management, and humanitarian organizations.
