Country Note on The Cook Islands: Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance

The Cook Islands is composed of 15 islands, spread across nearly 2 million km2 of territorial waters. The geographic spread of the Cook Islands poses logistical problems for any necessary post-disaster relief and response efforts. The 2011 census estimated the resident population of the Cook Islands at approximately 14,974 people, with a further 2,820 temporary residents. Approximately three-quarters of the population lived in Rarotonga. The geographic spread of the population makes initial disaster response to the outer islands expensive and further burdens already-constrained public finances. The events of 2005 demonstrated that the Cook Islands is extremely vulnerable to the threat of tropical cyclones (TCs): in the two months of February and March 2005, TCs Meena, Nancy, Olaf, Percy, and Rae swept the country. Four of these cyclones reached the maximum category 5 rating and caused severe damage to infrastructure and agriculture (Cyclone Recovery Committee 2006).

Source: openknowledge.worldbank.org
Full Article: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/21697/949800WP0Box380ry0Note0Cook0Islands.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y