The media for the past few weeks has been constantly showing the damage in Texas caused by Harvey. As Americans tune in and see the effects of flooding and intense winds, they flock in droves to websites like the Red Cross to donate. People post messages like ‘Praying for Houston’ or donation links.
However, while the talks about Harvey only stopped recently, it feels like the talks about Irma never really started. Besides the initial warnings that were on every news network, the only discussion online consists of memes of the event. Photos of Facebook events named “Everyone point their fans at Hurricane Irma” have made the rounds. However, despite all the news about damage caused by Harvey, damage caused by Irma has not been talked about.
Hurricane Irma is a Category 5 and is in the same placement as devastating hurricane Katrina. Irma was even more devastating than Katrina with Irma’s highest wind speeds being 10 mph faster than Katrina’s. CNN estimates that 99% of the buildings in the Caribbean are damaged in some way by Irma. This kind of extreme damage makes it extremely hard to distribute food or water to citizens.
“I witnessed looters and thieves running the streets, some with food and water, and some with [TVs] and blenders,” said Katherine Schrems who lives part-time in St. Martin, one of the islands that was hit.
According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), a humanitarian branch of the United Nations, hurricane Irma has done an estimated 10 billion dollars to the islands. While many countries are pledging money for recovery, most of these islands receive money from tourism — something impossible to do in the extreme destruction. With many tourism-fueled workers out of a job, it makes the recovery all that harder to achieve.
In the aftermath of such horrid destruction, the question remains; why is nobody talking about it? Harvey’s devastation was front and center on many news stations but talk about Irma is scarce to none.
“I had no idea it was that bad,” says South Carolinian Oliva Fernandez, “I knew it hit some of the islands but I never imagined $10 billion worth of damages.”
With many mainstream media sources overlooking the extent of the damage, it’s no surprise that so few know the true scale of devastation. Some speculate that the reason Irma is not covered in depth in America is that most of the damage happened to other countries.
The damage that has happened due to Irma’s involvement will not go away swiftly. An easy way to help is to donate to the Red Cross and other hurricane relief programs.
