Disaster Relief For Islands Affected by Irma and Maria Are Underway
Disaster relief seldom happens overnight and in the case of the Caribbean, it is rarely around the corner when you need help now. The islands most affected by the two Hurricanes that made landfalls in the past two weeks are:
- Barbuda
- Antigua
- Anguilla
- St Maarten
- Saba
- St Eustacia
- St Barths
- Dominica
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- St Croix
- St Thomas
- St John
- Tortola
- Virgin Gorda
- Culebra
- Vieques
- Puerto Rico
- Dominican Republic
- Cuba
- St Kitts & Nevis
- Turks & Caicos
- Florida Keys
That doesn't leave many islands left unscathed or in shape enough to assist their neighbors. Surprisingly, the Bahamas were only grazed by the storms. I attached below, three articles that illustrate where the levels of government support have gotten.
The amount of support so far with each storm has been dictated by location, severity of damage and international relationships. Some of the islands fall under the protection of the Dutch, UK, France, US and some are sovereign.
An island such as Dominica is sovereign and will need a great deal of support from Caribbean coalitions and friendly nations just to survive the aftermath of Maria. Thankfully Martinique, her Southern neighbor was not as affected as Dominica and has been able to help immediately. Trinidad & Tobago have picked up the relief efforts there as well and so has Venezuela, sending supplies via boat.
France, UK and the Dutch have formed a coalition to best use the resources they have in the area to assist their islands. The US is also planning to assist the coalition. The Dutch called back their largest ship from a Military exercise, loaded it with supplies and it's 10 days out from the Lesser Antilles.
Puerto Rico and the USVI's have the good fortune of being relatively near their Mother country, the US. A massive amount of aid can be expected to be delivered to San Juan Harbor in the next few days as well as a squadron of aircraft dropping supplies at SJU airport, to be dispersed around the US possessions.
Sovereign Cuba has received aid from Venezuela.
It takes time and a stoic disposition to survive and overcome two of the most destructive storms ever experienced in the Caribbean basin. Some of the islands have had to show great patience with the speed in which help has dribbled in from abroad, others are seeing only a 36 hour wait for assistance.
Be as patient as you can, help is on its way.
https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/09/21/hurricane-maria-response-and-relief-operations-underway
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Excellent excellent excellent post....Remember Anguilla and St Kitts, especially Caribbean national living in those countries as we aren't expose to the same level of benefits...my heart goes out to my CARICOM nationals as these sovereign islands has neither the means or finances to assist, quite frankly Trinidad and Tobago is the little USA within CARICOM countries
Thank you. Hopefully the late response of government will bring you some much needed relief.
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I'm waiting to hear from FEMA if and where I will be deploying. I should know in the next week or so. The devastation in the islands looks epic. It will be a long rebuilding process.
Were you trained by FEMA or did you volunteer? I'm interested in helping and have the time to do so. The devastation does look epic.
I work for a gov agency supporting this mission.
great job @wakeupsheeps
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