THE TCI is to receive a cash injection to the tune of $6.3m to help it recover from disastrous Hurricane Ike.

The massive payout from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) was announced just hours before the nation declared a state of emergency.

Premier Michael Misick revealed that the severity of the situation, which has left hundreds of people in Grand Turk and South Caicos homeless, prompted the move.

Ike’s high winds battered the country just five days after Hurricane Hanna twice drenched it with torrential rains.

The TCI Government purchased a hurricane policy from the regional insurance pool earlier this year.

Simon Young, of Caribbean Risk Managers Limited (CaribRM) which supervises the CCRIF, said: “I was able to speak to a senior official in the Ministry of Finance who described the high level of devastation from Ike.

“The people of the Turks and Caicos have our support and we hope that this payout will assist the country in making a swift recovery.”

CaribRM has also dispatched an experienced risk assessor to evaluate the damage in the Islands.

However the funds come amid a wave of controversy after it emerged that Haiti, where 60 people died due to flooding caused by Hurricane Ike, will not receive a cent from the CCRIF.

The reason is because the troubled nation was only hit by the storm’s outer reaches where wind did not exceed its policy threshold.

In addition to the deaths in Cabaret, Ike also contributed to devastating floods in the Haitian port city of Gonaives where scores of victims have been buried and no one can keep track of how many died.

The TCI is one of 16 Caribbean countries who pool their risk through the CCRIF, slashing individual premiums by 40 percent.

Governments have purchased deductibles that would reimburse them for damage incurred during hurricanes or earthquakes over a 20-year period.

Regional leaders sought World Bank assistance in establishing the fund after Hurricane Ivan caused widespread devastation in 2004.

It paid out approximately $1m to Dominica and St Lucia in the aftermath of the November 2007 earthquake that shook the Eastern Caribbean.

Grand Turk and South Caicos were declared disaster zones on Wednesday in a bid to attract help from overseas.

“We believe this will focus the effort of the Turks and Caicos Islands and international agencies on the work urgently needed to restore lives to normality,” a Government statement said.

“The work of assessing needs and meeting priority requirements in such areas as water, shelter and food is already underway.

“The economic boost provided by a fully operational Providenciales will make a major contribution to the speedy recovery of sister islands damaged by the storm,” it added.

The British Government has also lent a helping hand in the form of an eight-man team aboard the Royal Navy Warship, HMS Iron Duke, which has now docked in Grand Turk.

Spokesman Lieutenant Commander Dean Bassett said: “Our main aim is to save lives and get these Islands back on their feet.

“One such task we are undertaking is rebuilding the roof on the local hospital to make it habitable again.”