Earthquake risk in Indonesia: Parametric contingent claims for humanitarian response and financial institution resiliency

This dissertation explores the use of an index based contingent claims mechanism against earthquake risk in Indonesia. It focuses on time critical financing needs of international humanitarian relief organizations, and onefforts to improve the resiliency of geographically constrained financial institutions whose clientele are exposed to disaster risk. The approach uses measures of ground motion intensity as the basis for the index. The humanitarian response mechanism provides a new way for private sector partners to participate and gain visibility in their support of principled humanitarian funding. Index based contingent claims for local banks are shown to enhance their ability to recover and continue lending to the community after an event. Financial risk management may also substitute for a portion of the lender's precautionary capital buffer, enabling greater financial inclusion. Wholesale lenders with local bank networks having earthquake exposure can enhance these effects by offering group policies.;KEYWORDS: Earthquake Disaster, Index Insurance, Financial Resiliency, Humanitarian Response, Economic Development.