'Morgan provides a vivid recreation of that dreadful day combined with an equally evocative picture of nineteenth-century life ... Thrilling' Publishing News

On Thursday, 8 May 1902, the citizens of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, huddled together in their cathedral as the sky turned black: Mont Pelée, the volcano, had suddenly come alive. Within minutes the beautiful city had been destroyed along with its 30,000 inhabitants. The only apparent survivor was Ludger Sylbaris, a labourer who became a minor celebrity as he toured America recounting the horrors of the explosion. Fire Mountain is the thrilling story of that fateful day, the complex political events that played a part in the tragedy and a fascinating history of the island itself.

This report presents the rationale for and design of a city government disaster insurance pool in the Philippines. Insurance pools help governments enhance their financial preparedness for disasters, focusing on the provision of rapid post-disaster financing for early recovery. The Philippine City Disaster Insurance Pool was developed under the guidance of the Department of Finance as part of the 2015 Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Strategy. It utilizes a parametric insurance structure, basing payouts on the occurrence of earthquakes and typhoons according to their physical features, rather than actual losses.