ADB approved $94 million in contingent disaster financing the Pacific Disaster Resilience Program ^Featured

Phase 3 of the program provides another round of financing for the Pacific members who drew down on their CDF Programs for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic—the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Tonga—plus Tuvalu after it drew down the funds in February 2020 in response to Cyclone Tino.

It will also provide CDF for the first time to Kiribati and Vanuatu.

ADB's assistance comprises policy-based loans to the Cook Islands and Palau, and policy-based grants to the FSM, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

All 10 countries have made significant progress in strengthening the resilience of institutions and communities through three reform areas under phase 3, which build on the previous phases of the program.

Those reforms include strengthening institutional arrangements for risk management, improving risk-informed investment planning processes, and expanding risk financing. Aside from disasters caused by natural hazards, phase 3 has been expanded to reflect health-related emergencies.

A new post-program partnership framework was developed for each country to reflect its future targets and priorities on strengthening resilience.

"Phase 3 will help restore the financial resilience of the Pacific members to pre-COVID-19 levels," said ADB Senior Climate Change Specialist for the Pacific Ms Hanna Uusimaa. "The program supports critical actions on disaster risk management, along with urgent measures required by the countries to prepare for COVID-19, and address its economic impacts."

ADB's program will provide a timely and predictable source of emergency financing following disasters caused by natural hazards and health emergencies to rapidly implement priority actions and reduce the indirect economic and social costs of physical losses.