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Add to Preferred SourcesStories in the Caribbean tell of a time before satellites and computers. A time when dust, rain and wind were the early warning systems people relied on to predict major storms during the Atlantic hurricane season. Families would wake up and a hazy sun would predict a hurricane was on the horizon. Erratic rain, wind and the movements of animals would provide telltale signs that the old god Hurakán was on his way.
Today, we have much more advanced systems that provide us with crucial information about developing storms several days to weeks in advance. Yet, despite this new technology, individual hurricanes still have the power to cost us billions of dollars (for some islands, upwards of 200 percent of their gross domestic product) and thousands of lives.
In the aftermath of hurricanes that inflict this level of havoc, humanitarian aid and consequently, development aid, are likely to flood into affected islands and countries. However, it’s important to keep in mind why exactly it is that these countries are so vulnerable to hurricanes in the first place. Although fully hurricane-proof infrastructures do not exist, can we do better?
Environmental disasters such as hurricanes do not play out in a vacuum. Social and economic factors dictate which countries and communities will be hardest hit and require the most humanitarian aid. Increased flooding, for example, is not just caused by storm surges and increased rainfall, but also by poor infrastructure. Food shortages following environmental disasters are not only caused by killed livestock and destroyed cropland but also poverty. Likewise, the likelihood of injury due to building collapse increases where there is a lack of education and a lack of access to communication technologies.
One of the areas of highest concern for an island, during the aftermath of a hurricane, is its waste management system. In small islands, waste management systems are very variable. Waste collection capacity is often so stretched that it only services a portion of the population and the collected waste often ends up in landfills which have long reached their designed capacity. A waste management system can be entirely wiped out by a single hurricane, landfills can flood, sweep contamination into communities. If an island is not able to recover in time, this can cause disease to spread throughout the country.
The ideas of resilience and vulnerability are sustainability concepts that explain why some countries and communities are harder hit by environmental disasters than others. We must keep this in mind when we coordinate humanitarian aid to countries affected by hurricanes and other natural disasters.
The way we rebuild an island, city or country, from the first minute of humanitarian aid to the last, will affect how that island or country reacts to the next major hurricane that comes along. If done well, humanitarian aid can save a country vast amounts of money and even lives during future storms. We must urgently find ways to effectively fight hurricanes and other natural disasters through proper preparation, rather than solely reactive measures.
Hurricanes and other natural disasters are increasing in intensity due to climate change. Research must focus on how best to adapt to these changes and build resilient societies, as well as on the role humanitarian aid can play in achieving this. Identifying avenues to integrate the concepts of vulnerability, resilience and sustainability into humanitarian aid will bring us one step closer to this goal.
Original source: UN Environment
Published on 14 August 2019