Gemma Handy writes about hurricane season fears and the lack of home insurance in islands like Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, and Jamaica. Handy reports from St Johns, Antigua for BBC News.
For some Barbudans, thunderstorms still trigger flashbacks of the night in September 2017 when they lost everything they owned to Hurricane Irma’s devastating winds.
Eight years on, while memories may be close to hand, home insurance for many on Barbuda and other islands in the Caribbean’s hurricane belt is more prohibitively expensive than ever. Across the region premiums have gone through the roof in the past two years, surging by as much as 40% on some islands, according to industry figures.
Experts blame a perfect storm of increasing risk – as the region sees worsening and more rapidly intensifying cyclones – yet tiny populations of people to pay for policies, equating to poor returns for insurance companies.
Dwight Benjamin’s Barbuda home was one of few left relatively undamaged by Irma. After the storm, he invested in a one-room extension topped with a concrete roof that will serve as a shelter for his family should disaster strike again. “I think the house should be sound enough but that’s my added protection,” he says.
With peak hurricane season now in full swing, Dwight is among many Caribbean people anxiously monitoring weather platforms for activity in the Atlantic. Should a system head his way, he will do as he did during Irma – hope and pray. “I’ve never had insurance; most Barbudans don’t really think it’s worth it. It’s just an added expense to the meagre resources we have,” he explains. “Plus, we believe in what we have built and that it should be able to withstand the weather.”
Like Dwight, many Caribbean people build homes “out of pocket”, rather than opting for mortgages that can have high interest rates in this part of the world.
And the majority of homes on islands affected by hurricanes are uninsured. In Jamaica only 20% are reported to have cover, and just half in Barbados.
It is not just storms threatening the region, but earthquakes and volcanos too, points out Peter Levy, boss of Jamaican insurance company BCIC. As a result of these threats of natural disaster, which Mr Levy calls the Caribbean’s “unique market”, the cost of home insurance will always be high. [. . .]
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, with the most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October. The northern Caribbean nations, such as Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, and the Dominican Republic, are among the most at risk of a direct hit. [. . .]
While some Caribbean countries – like British territory Turks and Caicos, also battered by Irma – have emergency cash reserves that can help with post-storm restoration, others do not have that luxury.
For deeply indebted nation Antigua and Barbuda, agencies like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are a lifeline in the aftermath of a natural disaster. The country’s prime minister Gaston Browne estimated the cost of rebuilding Barbuda after Irma, where 90% of buildings were damaged, topped $200m (£148m). Help came from China, the European Union and Venezuela, among others.
In 2017, the UNDP stumped up $25m for Barbuda and the island country of Dominica, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria that same month.
The money restored more than 800 wrecked buildings across the two islands. But the body’s intervention was crucial in other ways too. [. . .]
For full article, visit https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2lxvjypxreo
[Shown above, photo from Getty Images: “Homes in Barbuda were flattened by 2017’s Hurricane Irma.”]