Hurricane season is here, but federal aid isn’t
Caribbean in matters is a weekly series of Daily Kos. I hope you join here every Saturday. If you are not familiar with the region, consult things in the Caribbean: get to know the Caribbean countries.
We have covered the devastation of recent Hurricane of the Caribbean and the Atlantic, some of which are still recovering from the island nations. In 2017, Hurricane Irma and Maria struck the American and Puerto Rico islands and erased Barbuda. Likewise, the Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and the Hurricane Beryl in 2024 caused generalized regional damage.
Unfortunately for the victims, during President Donald Trump’s first term, there were many delays in federal aid. And now, during his second term, things are about to get worse.
The environmental correspondent of Vox Benji Jones writes:
The Hurricane season in the Atlantic has officially started.
And although this year is probably less extreme than in 2024 – one of the most destructive seasons of all time, with the first category 5 hurricane never recorded – it always promises to be a Doozy.
The forecasters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predict the activity “above average” this season, with six to 10 hurricanes. The season takes place from June 1 to November 30.
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Even when the government agencies that plan and react to serious storms – namely the NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – are fully equipped and funded, large hurricanes inflict billions of dollars of damage and cost lives.
Earlier this month, a forecast of the Puerto Rican meteorologist John Morales in Florida has become viral:
John Morales de WTVJ in Miami said that the recent Trump administration cuts at the National Weather Service could leave televisionists like him “flying blind” this season of hurricanes. “We may not know exactly how strong a hurricane is before he reaches the coast,” he warned.
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The presentation of Mr. Morales began on Monday with a clip of himself after the Hurricane Dorian in category 5 in 2019 while he moved to the Bahamas. He reassured his Florida viewers that the powerful storm would turn north before reaching their coast. And this is the case, exactly when Mr. Morales assured that anxious viewers would do it.
The clip cuts him today, slightly older and now wearing glasses. He recalled the confidence he had before to provide a precise forecast to his viewers.
Grimly, he added: “And I am here to tell you that I am not sure I can do it this year, because of the cuts, the evisation, the hammer attack against science in general.”
He told staff shortages in the Florida offices of the meteorological service; “From Tampa to Key West, including the Miami office, 20 to 40% of staff,” he said.
“The quality of forecasts is degraded” due to these cuts, he said.
“Am I worried? You bet I am! ” He added in a follow -up test published on the station’s website.
And here is the video clip of the Morales report:
But Trump’s cuts with federal aid go far beyond the preparation for hurricanes. As María Mónica Monsalve reported it for El País:
If a potential lack of information is a source of concern, there is still a greater dismay on the way in which the first season of hurricanes will be experienced after the break of the USAID assistance through Latin America and the Caribbean. The calculations carried out by the Center for Global Development (CGD) on the basis of the latest documents shared by the Congress in March consider that $ 265,038,208 have been reduced to preparation for disasters worldwide.
“USAID was a very reliable source of funding for various activities to reduce disasters, preparation and response,” insists Salgado. “In the region, one of the initiatives that has been greatly affected is the early alert system for all people, which is also an initiative mandated by the Secretary General of the United Nations.” A 24-hour warning, he recalls, can reduce up to 30% of economic losses and livelihoods.
This whole chain, from early alert to the recovery of hurricanes, was shaken in the region. Knowing the extent is difficult due to the lack of transparency of the American government, but there are specific cases. Scientific journalist Justine Calma revealed The penis The fact that the Regional Disaster Assistance Program (RDAP), funded by USAID since 1989, has been dismissed in Latin America and the Caribbean. It included activities such as exercise management with community members, purchase of supplies for evacuation shelters and the guarantee that people with disabilities can access services.
As reported by the editor -in -chief of Earth.org, Martina Ignini, the dismantling of FEMA by Trump will start at the end of the hurricanes season.
The Trump administration will begin to dismantle the country’s federal emergency agency at the end of the hurricanes season, which scientists have planned to be “higher than normal” this year.
“We are going to give less money,” said Trump in the White House, adding that he would like to see the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – an agency in the American Department of Internal Security – largely dismantled “after the Hurricane season” to “bring it back to the level of the state”.
Speaking next to Trump from the Oval Office, the secretary of internal security, Kristi Noem, said that this decision “would allow the governors of the States to respond to emergency situations. But experts have warned that if the big counties and cities may be able to use some of the agency’s services and responsibilities, small rural governments do not have staff and resources to do so.
But, of course, there was no mention of what it means for Puerto Rico and the American virgin island. Although we are all aware of the damage caused by hurricanes, a recent study in Puerto Rico gives an overview of the long -term effects damaging people, and not goods.
The study, entitled “Enraizando ante the Climática crisis (Rooting in the face of the climate crisis) ”, was based on 684 responses to an online questionnaire (quantitative scope) and 52 people interviewed in the six regions of Puerto Rico (qualitative scope). In the analysis, Amigxs del Mar revealed that 44% of the hurricane identified Total María (2017) as the main event responsible for their air -conditioned workers.
“This means that people live in a state of constant hypervigilance,” said Erimar Landrón IrizarryCommunity and educational organizer for Amigxs del Mar “The body constantly experiences anxiety and stress has harmful effects on physical and mental health. But beyond this situation, the fact that it is unfavorable also causes a constant landscape of illness in the population, and when you, in one way or another, you feel every day that you cannot fight this disease, it creates immobilization. So what measures are taken to ensure that the populations and the inhabitants of the communities feel really empowered and that there is not just a beautiful sentence pronounced by a government official? »»
Hoping that the Caribbean are dodging the anger of the great storms this season. I will provide updates and an overview of other Caribbean news in the comments section below.
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