Risk Management Roles of the Public and Private Sector

Insurance is an essential component of household and community resilience. It protects insureds financially against disaster losses, can encourage investments in cost†effective mitigation measures through premium reductions, and facilitates the rebuilding of property and long†term recovery. Private insurers face challenges in providing full protection against disasters. This has led governments around the world to create a variety of public insurance entities, often designed as public†private partnerships. At a November 2016 workshop, “Improving Disaster Financing: Evaluating Policy Interventions in Disaster Insurance Markets,†participants evaluated disaster insurance programs for flood, earthquake, and terrorism losses. This article synthesizes six papers and findings from the workshop and suggests ways to improve public†private partnerships for disaster financing in three interrelated areas: (1) risk communication, (2) risk reduction, and (3) risk transfer. It concludes with a proposal for a comprehensive insurance program that could harness the benefits of both the public and private sectors.