Cecilia A. Green, Syracuse University and Farah Nibbs, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Many countries collect and store rainwater for use during drought or dry seasons. But this technique is rarely used in the Caribbean, where hurricanes can leave people without water for months.
Hurricane Irma demolished Sint Maarten in the Dutch Antilles, in September 2017. The island has yet to recover.
AP Photo/Carlos Giusti
Corruption has made hurricane Caribbean countries’ recovery less efficient and more expensive, new research shows. Misuse of funds may also trigger more disaster-related deaths.
The Caribbean braces for another hurricane season even as many nations remain crippled by the catastrophic damage of 2017. Here, experts assess the region’s difficult and costly storm recovery.
Rising seas, harsher weather, rainier days. The impacts of climate change make it harder for Caribbean countries to plan their transition toward renewable energy sources.
Ricardo Rojas/Reuters
Masaō Ashtine, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus
The 2017 hurricane season showed that Caribbean nations urgently need more resilient power grids. But the effects of climate change – including more severe storms – complicate the shift to renewables.
Some 17,000 U.S. troops aided in the Caribbean relief effort after hurricanes Irma and Maria. That’s roughly equivalent to the U.S. military’s humanitarian mission in the Philippines after Typhoon Hiyan in 2013.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Compared to its foreign disaster missions, the US military mobilized slowly after Maria. But in numbers, capacity and logistics coordination, its work in Puerto Rico was on par with other aid efforts.
People in the U.S. and the Caribbean share vulnerability to climate change-related disasters, but only in the Caribbean is the public truly worried. Why?
US Navy
New research suggests politics and risk perception may explain why the US and Caribbean see climate change so differently, though both places are ever more vulnerable to powerful hurricanes.
If Caribbean governments can’t afford to rebuild their islands, maybe big tech firms can?
Masaō Ashtine, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus
Tesla, China and Richard Branson are among those offering to help Caribbean nations rebuild – and do so in a greener, more resilient way – after the devastating 2017 hurricane season.
The author, distributing medications at a shelter in Villalba, Puerto Rico.
Elimarys Perez-Colon
Evidence shows that US taxpayers are less willing to support extensive disaster relief when the victims are not white. Could that explain the Trump administration’s lackluster support for Puerto Rico?