From The Economist

The region must work more together to prepare for and respond to disasters

BEFORE tearing up parts of Florida, Hurricane Irma ravaged whole Caribbean islands. In doing so, it exposed the strange territorial shreds that make up the region: it destroyed Barbuda, Antigua’s poorer partner in their independent state; it wrecked most dwellings on St Martin, an island divided between France and the Netherlands; it flattened Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, and St John in the American-owned half of the same archipelago. The storm did not kill huge numbers of people—around 40 before it hit the American mainland and probably fewer than 80 all told—but the economic toll in small island territories is immense. In the United States the property damage wrought by Irma and Harvey, an earlier storm that struck Houston, is equivalent to about 1.5% of GDP. Irma’s cost to some small Caribbean islands, which promote themselves as tourist paradises, exceeds their GDP (see article).

As the strongest hurricane ever to hit some of those islands, Irma is a harbinger. Warmer seas will strengthen hurricanes, and higher sea levels will make storm surges more destructive. These will smash the beach resorts from which the Caribbean largely makes its living (some are tax havens, too). A one-metre rise in sea levels, which might happen in this century, could displace more than 100,000 people in the region.

The islands have learned some lessons since Hurricane Ivan smashed into Grenada in 2004. They are better at providing shelter, which helped to limit the death toll. A regional disaster-insurance scheme, called CCRIF, pays out quickly (see article), softening the economic blow. CDEMA, a regional body, co-ordinates planning and relief for its 18 members, including British overseas territories.

But governments have failed to do many of the hard things needed to make their islands more resilient. Building codes written with the storms of yesteryear in mind are spottily enforced. Much of the region’s population occupies housing too flimsy to withstand severe storms. Developers rip out protective mangrove swamps to plonk hotels by the water’s edge. Fixing such problems is expensive, and politicians have trouble seeing beyond the next election.

Weak bureaucracies and political fragmentation make it harder. Regional governments give little support to the joint initiatives they have created. Even as Irma loomed, CDEMA’s members had yet to approve the budget of its disaster co-ordination unit. The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, which helps its members adjust to climate change, gets almost no money from them.

Category-five imperatives

To weather the coming storms, as well as earthquakes and droughts, the region will have to do much more. Billions of dollars will have to be spent on upgrading buildings, roads and other infrastructure. When storms like Irma force islands to rebuild, hotels and roads should be moved farther back from the shore and built to standards set across the region. CCRIF should be expanded and strengthened, for example by requiring countries to have contingency plans for spending the money they claim. CDEMA needs stronger backing from its members; it should be able to mobilise fleets of boats and planes at short notice when disaster strikes.

Better planning and more co-operation will not be enough. Caribbean islands will need help from their European and North American patrons and other donors to adapt to the disasters that will follow Irma. And global action on climate must become much more ambitious. Otherwise, large parts of paradise will eventually be washed away.