Did We Learn Anything From Hurricane Maria?

This post was originally published in Forbes.

Tropical storms are once again ravaging large parts of the world from North Carolina to the Philippines. These vast natural weather systems are confusingly named differently according to their region. In the Americas the term “hurricane” is used while in East Asia they are called “typhoons” and across South Asia and the South Pacific they refer to “cyclones". This naming system can sometimes mislead the public away from connecting the causes of these weather events. But as the oceans become warmer, the science shows that we can expect these extremes to occur more frequently and with greater ferocity. The severity of this week’s Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut are further evidence of that fact.

Regardless of the term used, hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones (which I’ll just refer to as “hurricanes” from now on, for simplicities sake) clearly cause material damage and loss of life when they occur. Last year across the Caribbean, several islands faced severe destruction followed by months without a power or water supply. The impact is even more catastrophic for small islands from where the inhabitants have no place to evacuate to in the event of an oncoming hurricane, and where a single event can wipe out an entire country’s economy. After being hit by the eye of Hurricane Irma last, the island of Barbuda was completely evacuated and almost one year later many have still not returned home. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria smashed into Dominica, wiping out 225% of GDP and went on to hit Puerto Rico resulting in the deaths of at least 2,975 people.

Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands residents, in particular, expected the Federal U.S. government to come to their aid following the storm, and many felt let down by the political inaction. As American citizens, these islanders rightly anticipate the same treatment as their fellow Americans in Texas, New York or California. However, nearly half of Americans do not know that Puerto Ricans hold American citizenship. Furthermore, residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are unable to vote in presidential elections. This gives the Federal Government less political incentive to act than in a place where they could expect a backlash by voters.

With Hurricane Florence devastating large parts of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, all eyes will be on the Federal Government. If the response is effective and successful, questions will be raised about why these states received more help than Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If the response is deemed inadequate, then the question will be why the Federal Government did not learn anything from last year’s experience.

Politics does have a real impact on disaster response and recovery. North Carolina and Virginia are swing states that will be important for President Trump to win in his reelection campaign. Both states voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and a poor response to Hurricane Florence could even swing the vote against President Trump. Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans remain unable to vote in presidential elections, the lingering result of a century-long colonial relationship . Puerto Ricans living in U.S. states can vote, but largely lean democrat anyway. The reality is that in today’s America, the way that you vote (or not, in Puerto Rico’s case) impacts the level of help that you can expect to receive from the Federal Government after a disaster.

The impact of hurricanes in both North Carolina and Puerto Rico will be seen for years to come. But the responses may be very different. Other variables are important to consider, such as Puerto Rico’s isolation from the United States mainland, although with over US$800 billion spent on the military each year it seems like a weak excuse for President Trump to blame this short distance on the slow response while the United States is operating military bases across the world. Much more important is the continued imposition of the antiquated Jones Act that restricts foreign companies from shipping goods to Puerto Rico, ultimately benefiting mainland businesses at the expense of the island. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the Jones Act limited how quickly resources could be brought in, to the detriment of the recovery.

With political squabbles continuing in Washington, many Puerto Ricans have taken it upon themselves to take action where possible – losing faith that they will receive any help from their government. Efforts are underway to make Puerto Rico resilient at the community level, such as installing renewable energy microgrids that give them independence from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). The Puerto Rican Senate has now passed a law to allow the formation of energy cooperatives, to encourage decentralization of generation a growth in renewable energy.

These grassroots initiatives are empowering local communities to prepare for the future. A lack of trust in the government and PREPA means that many feel they need to be prepared to look after themselves, and renewable energy is one mechanism for independence. Not to mention the cost savings.

North Carolina and Puerto Rico both have a long road ahead to recovery. Rebuilding and preparing for future hurricanes is going to be a challenge financially and politically. If storms are going to be harder and more frequent, then community projects may prove to be more resilient than waiting for government action. The U.S. often has often had difficulty responding to natural disasters and Puerto Rico represents the most extreme example in recent history. For real resilience, we need effective coordination between local and national governments and to empower local communities to take action.

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