Just Released! Order “Waking Up to Climate Change” by George Ropes, and receive 25% Discount. Learn More

HOME          CATEGORIES          OUR TAKE

The Aftermath of Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria by City-Tech Blogger Christopher Barros

As we have seen, Puerto Rico is and has always been affected by natural disasters because of its geographical location. The most recent one, Hurricane Maria, caused major damage last year (2017) so that the country is not yet equipped to withstand another major hurricane, and if it does it will be even more unstable. Climate change will allow more natural disasters to occur at a more frequent rate because of how these disasters grow when introduced to warmer weathers. The increase in heat caused by climate change will allow hurricanes to be formed more frequently and potentially hit Puerto Rico once again, up to this date, the power grid of the island is yet to be fully restored and it had already been damaged for more than a decade.  If hurricanes become more powerful due to the global mean temperature increase, then the island will stand little chance of overcoming further natural disasters. Alongside its geographical location the island has great financial debt, and  it has lost about 30% of its power grid employees which is a major cause of why it has taken so long to rebuild the power lines since the previous hurricane. Mitigations  for this would be, for starters, outside help –  since the debt ridden Puerto Rico is unable to improve it’s infrastructure and lessen the blow of future hurricanes. Unlike previous years when the island had external help,  this year the US decided it will not intervene, which was a major blow for the island. When hurricanes increase in their force due to the change in global temperature, the island will, little by little, destabilize and will no longer be able to support its inhabitants unless outside parties intervene and provide help for them.

Comment on this article

ClimateYou moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (New York time) and can only accept comments written in English.

2 Responses

  1. A great informative piece about Hurricane Maria in Puerto rico .

    Climate change does play a role when it involves hurricanes at most and can lead to an increase in a hurricane’s intensity and the overall outcome of the storm. The cost of repairs are immense. But the impact it has on the country doesn’t solely just depend on the financial outcome but on a personal level. People face personal issues such as the . number of deaths and damaged homes, which has led most to apply for national flood insurance program. Warmer ocean temperatures can lead to an unpredictable disasters.
    Hopefully in time , Puerto Rico will fully recover from this situation created by the very destructive Hurricane Maria. PR’s experience should bring all countries into a conversation about climate chabge and how it plays a role with hurricanes in the Carribean and islands.

  2. It really is a tragedy of what happens to Puerto Rico and all of the surrounding nations every time there is a big natural event. There really is not anyone to blame to something like a hurricane. I am torn whenever I hear about all the disasters being faced to the south of us. I have many friends who are from the islands around there and it is hard to hear them talk about not knowing what happened to their families. I can only imagine what is happening back there when experiencing a disaster. Losing a large chunk of your employees who specially help to rebuild is a big loss and it does not help if the U.S. does not get involved, which may be controversial, but i believe if you can help, you should help. As in I know by myself I cannot do anything, between school and work. But the U.S. can definitely send some people who are able and willing to help.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE


More Posts Like This

CITY TECH BLOG

How Electric Vehicles Can Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change is now one of the most critical challenges facing humanity today, with its expansive consequences affecting ecosystems, economies, and human well-being.  A disturbing and meaningful contributor to this global crisis is the combustion of fossil fuels, primarily in the form of gasoline and diesel, which powers

CITY TECH BLOG

How does Climate Change Affect Our World?

If you can recall from ‘My Take On Climate Change’ essay, I spoke about all the causes and examples of climate change and my general opinion on such matters. I spoke about a scenario at the beginning on how climate change is affecting our world right now such

CITY TECH BLOG

How Climate Change Affects My Country, the Dominican Republic

Here’s a question: How does climate change affect agriculture, industry or tourism, and people impacted such as farmers, city dwellers, and the poor? Since I’m from the Dominican Republic as stated in a previous essay, it climate change affects the entire country in a variety of ways. One