DFYWA has been promoting insurance as a strategy for disaster risk reduction and gained important learning. The approach so far has been to identify suitable insurance products and help communities in the disaster preparedness project area to buy them. Building on the learning from the experience so far, this pilot aims to demonstrate the approach of successfully integrating Insurance linked Disaster risk reduction strategies into on going development programs for the marine fishing community.

The main difference is: So far, insurance has not been integral to ongoing development programs. It has been brought in as an additional feature for enhancing disaster coping capacity. In the proposed initiative, we would like to try and include insurance linked DRR in to ongoing development programs. With such minimal investment, we wish to contribute to the high yielding and long term sustainability of the ongoing-high investment development programs of the government and other agencies.

Andhra Pradesh lies on the east coast of India, in which Visakhapatnam district is situated in north eastern part of the State. The geographical area of the Visakhapatnam district is 11,167 sq.km, out of which the coastal area occupies 136 sq.km. The economically and socially backward fishermen live along the coast and are vulnerable to Cyclones, tidal waves and Tsunami. The coastal communities that have thrived on the riverbanks and ocean belts have been exposed to disasters from time known.

Visakhapatnam is one of the most adversely affected districts during cyclones from 1994 to 2003. The coastal villages in Atchutapuram and Nakkapalli mandals were severely damaged in the above mentioned period as they are very prone to cyclones. These cyclones inflicted heavy loss of boats and nets which were main craft and gear of fishermen for their livelihood. And hence the coastal villages in Atchutapuram and Nakkapalli mandals are selected for pilot intervention.

• Building capacity of the community in selected villages for disaster risk reduction
• Enhancing disaster coping capacity of communities through risk sharing and transfer strategies such as savings, contingency funds and insurance.
• Minimizing the cost of disaster risk reduction by integrating these approaches into ongoing development programs.
• Contributing to long term sustainability of development programs by integrating disaster risk reduction approaches.

• Enhanced capacity of the communities to cope with disasters.
• Reduced impact of disasters due contingency planning and collective action.
• Guaranteed and dignified recovery from disasters due to the facility of insurance.
• Replication of the model of integrating DRR and Insurance in development by government and other agencies in the district.