Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico 2017

It’s one thing to be displaced by a hurricane. It’s entirely another matter when real estate developers and US investors take advantage of the archipelago’s disaster for profit, writes Lola Rosario

Home in Puerto Rico destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017

The blackout that engulfed Puerto Rico when Hurricane Fiona laid bare the impacts of austerity and privatisation carried under United States fiscal control, reports Barry Sheppard.

Climate change catastrophe has confronted hundreds of thousands of people of the eastern seaboard of the United States and on the Philippines island of Luzon, writes Phil Hearse, as Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Mangkhut made landfall simultaneously.

Leaders from the Caribbean states are calling on the Donald Trump administration to seriously tackle the climate change crisis.

The call comes amid the Atlantic Hurricane season, one year after a series of hurricanes devastated several Caribbean countries and concerns that warming oceans could see another season of intense storms.

Greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming, which creates stronger hurricanes and rising sea levels. These events pose a unique threat to Caribbean countries.

St. Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said climate change could devastate Caribbean islands if global leaders do not act now to stop its extreme effect on the small islands.

The humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico continues after almost two months after the hurricanes hit. The imperialist center in Washington continues to refuse to provide anything like adequate aid to its Caribbean colony.

The destruction caused by the two hurricanes that hit the island in September was worsened by a long history of imperialist exploitation, which has devastated the economy and infrastructure. This has greatly deepened over the past decade.

Puerto Rico is facing a huge humanitarian crisis after being hit by two super-strong hurricanes. It suffered a glancing blow by Irma and then a direct hit by Maria, both storms greatly strengthened by warmer ocean water caused by climate change.

The crisis is still unfolding weeks after Maria hit. The full picture and extent of the damage will not be known for some time.