Jamaican Minister of Finance and the Public Service Fayval Williams was speaking at this morning's Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's President's Breakfast Forum at the Pegasus Hotel in St Andrew, where business leaders gathered for a discussion on disaster risk management for the business community.
“The IMF research has shown that since the 1950s, more than 12,000 natural disasters have been registered in the world. During that same period, the Caribbean has been hit by 324 natural disasters, and you may say that 324 looks like a small number when compared to the 12,000. But the research also shows that the economic impact of these 324 disasters in the Caribbean has been substantial, exceeding US$22 billion over that time," Williams said. Contrasts this US$22 Billion to the cost estimated about US$58 Billion globally and you get a sense of the magnitude of the vulnerability of our tourism-dependent economies in the Caribbean, which accounts for 38 per cent of global damage from natural disasters," she told the gathering. Williams said the policy will be based on the most recent specialized analysis available and will have a suite of products for different levels of disasters, and a transparent investment to mitigate harm to people and damage to infrastructure. She says the Government has put things in motion, and is far along with the analytical work that will guide the eventual establishment of a policy framework for disaster risk management at the national level."
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