The FINANCIAL — Poor and vulnerable people in the river basin areas of Sirajganj district come under an index based flood insurance product, to address the disaster risk reduction in the flood prone regions, according to Swiss Re.
Initially the flood index insurance product will cover 1661 poor families of 10 villages located in Char areas of Sirajganj district on a pilot basis. The product aims to provide cash relief of up to BDT 8000 per household in event of catastrophic flood.
”With this very innovative initiative, poor and vulnerable people of Sirajganj district, who are the regular victims of flood will feel more secured. Such kind of initiative helps the government to address the disaster risk reduction,” said Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, MP, Minister of Disaster Management and Relief. He urged all to scale up this effort to cover whole Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh is a flood prone country, which is one of primary reasons for wide spread poverty, despite the remarkable economic progresses government has made. Index based flood insurance is aimed to design a commercially viable catastrophic flood insurance scheme for the poor and vulnerable.” He further added, “We are now piloting it in Sirajganj, with a hope to spread it across the country with the support from government, national and international organizations,” said Snehal Soneji, Country Director for Oxfam in Bangladesh.
Initiated by Oxfam, the project is funded by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation) and jointly implemented by CIRM Advisory Services (India), Institute of Water Modeling (Bangladesh), Pragati Insurance Ltd. (Bangladesh), Swiss Re, Manab Mukti Sangstha (Bangladesh) and Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (Bangladesh).
"Floodwater that used to create fertile ground for agriculture crops has resulted in catastrophic consequences in Bangladesh now. Through this flood index insurance scheme, Swiss Re supports the insurance sector with product structuring, pricing and underwriting, as well as reinsuring the risks. The insurance scheme will help to mitigate the fiscal impact of the flooding to the villages, and strengthen the resilience of the economy," said Harini Kannan, Head of Agriculture Reinsurance South West Asia from Swiss Re, the reinsurance partner for this project.
Discussion about this post