AFTER the initial failure of the British Government to be prepared for predictable hurricane seasons in the vulnerable Caribbean, a greater concern needs to be raised: the dramatic increase in frequency and intensity of the storms.
During the period 1978-88 there were only three hurricanes in the severe category four or five on the Saffir-Simpson scale. This increased to 11 from 1989-2001, with many causing great damage resulting in major economic losses.
However, 2001-2011 saw a dramatic jump in number to 21 level four or five storms. The increase in sea temperature within the Caribbean archipelago is providing additional energy to the “standard” Atlantic storm. When sea surge is added to sea-level rise plus extreme wind and flooding, the vulnerability of coastal areas becomes critical.
Add the fact that at least 65 per cent of hotel rooms are situated on coastal zones, plus major commercial infrastructure and population centres all close to sea level, and severe storm damage could cost billions of dollars in losses for the region.
Measuring the enormous human cost of frequent Caribbean disasters will require further study. Caribbean capacity building is a vital development goal but there is an urgent imperative to repair existing damage while strengthening response capability.
Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, with the Organisation of the Americas (OAS), have a major role to play. Support for the Caribbean Development Bank from its international partners and donors (the EU, China and Canada at the fore) would offer these small island states a source of funding for major infrastructure and shelter building.
Britain has direct responsibility for its British citizens in the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.
The existing business model of zero per cent tax regimes should be reviewed and replaced. But the British poor of Tortola do not receive any of the core benefits of the British poor of Troon or Torbay. A major housebuilding programme of storm resistance housing would be a start.
Scotland and its government cannot be excluded from offering much needed development assistance to the region: for centuries our elite commercial sector enjoyed an old and troubled relationship with this “new world”.
Leaving these damaged, vulnerable islands to the ravages of permanent underdevelopment is a major security risk with unthinkable implications.
Thom Cross,
18 Needle Green,
Carluke.
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