Natural Disasters

More from the Series

BRIEFS
Payouts for Perils: How Insurance Can Radically Improve Emergency Aid (Brief)
April 13, 2017
Unpredictable funding undermines effective response to natural disasters. Two key innovations pre-agree funding for future disaster risks to save lives, money, and time: pivot existing funding to enable goverments and agencies to pre-enroll for quick-fire sup[port aganist predicatable future cost...
REPORTS
Payouts for Perils: How Insurance Can Radically Improve Emergency Aid
April 07, 2017
Millions of people face hazards like cyclones and drought every day. International aid to deal with disasters after they strike is generous, but it is unpredictable and fragmented, and it often fails to arrive when it would do the most good. We must stop treating disasters like surprises. Matching f...
Blog Post
CGD’s Panel at the #HLM2 in Nairobi: Can Insurance Fix Emergency and Humanitarian Aid?
December 13, 2016
Can insurance really make emergency aid better, faster, and fairer? That was the question we posed to the impressive panel that we convened last week in Nairobi at the second high level meetings of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. The panel broug...
Blog Post
How to Help Haiti in the Aftermath of Hurricane Matthew
October 07, 2016
In Haiti, already the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Hurricane Matthew’s devastation is still being calculated. We know that hundreds of people have died, and the damage to Haiti’s already-fragile infrastructure is immense. So what can people in rich countries do to...
Blog Post
Dude, Where’s My Cat Bond?
August 22, 2016
 “Cat” bonds are effectively a cheaper source of large-scale insurance coverage against clearly measured risks like earthquakes, storms, or even disease outbreaks. Generally, though, coverage hasn’t trickled down to the poorer and most at-risk countries—precise...
Blog Post
We Can Fix Emergency Aid with Disaster Insurance – Podcast with Stefan Dercon and Theo Talbot
August 16, 2016
When a disaster strikes, we are urged to send money, and many people do—but is there a better way to fund the relief effort? My guests this week, DFID chief economist Stefan Dercon and CGD senior analyst Theo Talbot, believe that insurance can help.
Blog Post
Emergency Aid is Broken, Catastrophe Insurance Can Help to Fix It: New CGD Paper & Working Group
July 27, 2016
Aid for countries after a disaster is rooted in our best impulses, but the way we provide it urgently needs to be reformed. We spend too little on reducing the costs of future disasters, aid shows up too late, and calls for reform are met with replies of “too bad”&nbs...