ANNEX 3: LEARNING FROM PROJECT AND PROGRAM EXPERIENCES
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collection. Any city resident may purchase insurance for their property, and after 30 percent of the insurable buildings participate, the insurance coverage is extended to tax-exempted properties, including properties with cadastral value of 25 monthly salaries or less (estimated at US$3,400). Despite the municipal administration collecting a handling fee of 6 percent, the insurance company has a direct contractual relationship with the individual taxpayer and bears responsibility for the all claims (Fay, Ghesquiere, Solo 2003). Many of the cities with the strongest programs for reducing disaster risks come from Latin America. The city of Manizales provides an example of a city government committed to partnering with the community for disaster risk reduction. This included involving the population in each district in risk mapping and responses, as well as discussions that brought together all key local stakeholders. The risk mapping of each district identified risk zones and settlements particularly at risk from landslides. The city government then worked with the inhabitants to relocate them to safer sites and convert the land at risk into neighborhood parks with measures to stabilize the slopes (Velasquez 1998). A hundred and twelve women were trained as “guardians of the slopes” to create and maintain slope stabilization in their neighborhood and to report on problems. Environmental observatories have been created in each of the 11 comunas into which the city is divided to support public engagement and implementation of the city’s environmental plan. The comunas monitor progress on environmental conditions, with progress summarized and displayed publicly in a simple set of indicators—the environmental traffic lights (semaforos ambientales) (Velasquez Barrero 2010). The city also introduced collective voluntary insurance to allow low-income groups to insure their buildings; the city government has an agreement with an insurance company and allows any city resident to purchase insurance through municipal taxes (Velasquez 1998). Turkey—Liquidity for Post-Disaster Relief and Reconstruction
At the national level, countries have the opportunity to participate in public insurance, such as catastrophic risk financing. Established before disaster impacts, catastrophic risk financing can provide governments with immediate liquidity for post-disaster relief and reconstruction. The World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR) have been helping governments participate in catastrophic risk financing as part of larger disaster risk management (Cummins and Mahul 2008). The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group cites the Turkish Catastrophic Insurance Pool (TCIP) as a successful project, which has tripled the insurance penetration for earthquake coverage in Turkey. Established following the 2000 Marmara earthquake, the TCIP has an annual premium of US$20, despite covering up to $1 billion in damages in a disaster (IEG 2006).