THREE major business organizations have join forces to host a Disaster Mitigation Symposium focusing on Business Continuity and Insurance solutions.
The symposium will be held on Tuesday at the Financial Centre Building, Point Seraphine and will be spearheaded by the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. The other organisations are the Insurance Council of St. Lucia and the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA).
The one day symposium will look at how business can mitigate against the increasing threats posed by, natural weather phenomenon like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis through disaster preparedness, business continuity plans and insurance.
Also supporting this all important symposium through financial support are key insurance players on the island including, SAGICOR, Grace Kennedy, NAGICO and Massy Insurances. These firms will have a strong presence in the provision of industry experts to lead the discussion and information sharing sessions.
The Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Brian Louisy points out that increasing the knowledge and understanding of insurance and insurance options will go a long way in helping businesses plan and strategize. Also selecting adequate and appropriate insurance packages and knowing exactly what they cover is important to businesses. It has become obvious that too many persons are not sufficiently informed about the subject and as such, either does not take the appropriate insurance and or level of coverage.
Statistics show that only one in four businesses open their doors after disaster strikes, while only 20% of buildings in the Caribbean Region are insured and only 20% of those are adequately covered. Recent information out of Dominica suggests that close to 90% of homes insured were drastically under insured. This places the recovery after an incident under even more pressure.
The Chamber is pleased with the response of the insurance industry to the idea of the symposium as well as the response so far from the Business Community. The Chamber invites all persons to be a part of this discussion of national importance. If you are interested in attending please contact the Chamber at 452-3165 or email us [email protected].