Insurance-linked securities aim to shield insurers and governments from huge costs following disasters. But they bear eerie similarities to the securities that caused the 2008 financial meltdown.
Natural disasters are not only bad in the short term. Many families will see their health, well-being and ability to escape poverty affected for decades, and some will be affected for life.
Hurricane Maria has left 3.4 million Puerto Ricans facing shortages of food, health care and transit, an American humanitarian crisis fueled by the US territory’s May 2017 bankruptcy.
Levi Gahman, The University of the West Indies: St. Augustine Campus and Gabrielle Thongs, The University of the West Indies: St. Augustine Campus
The Caribbean is facing its second deadly hurricane in as many weeks. This isn’t just bad luck: the region’s extreme vulnerability to disaster also reflects entrenched social inequalities.
The Tehuantepec gap in southeastern Mexico, where this month’s massive earthquake originated, was long thought to be ‘aseismic.’ On September 7, scientists learned otherwise.
As Texas and Florida rebuild after Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, they should plan for future climate change and design infrastructure that can respond to and recover from extreme events.
The aid and assistance Britain’s Caribbean territories will need to rebuild will make highlight the fault lines in the relationship between Westminster and its former colonies.