(NBCNews)
Hurricane Irma, you’d have to be living under a rock not to hear about it. It is truly everywhere you look: all over the news, Facebook feeds, and Snapchat stories. But the thing is, the coverage of the storm and its aftermath is lacking. What do I mean? I mean we are only covering the U.S. part of hurricane Irma. The United States can rebuild relatively quickly, we have the supplies and most people have insurance to rebuild at least some of their homes. What about those in the Caribbean that also got hit by the back to back giant storms? What about those countries that cannot funnel billions of dollars into relief to those that were injured or no longer have a home?
Well, today when you get on CNN it says something that surprised me: “Food Shortage” was the headline that came across, but only once I hit the “world news” section of the sight. The islands in the Caribbean area have almost completely been forgotten about according to the people there. Islands that were once owned by the British have supplies coming from Britain to them, but most of the people feel as if they have been forgotten about in the terrorizing world that has become out of Hurricane Irma.
The U.S. is facing roughly a couple weeks without power from the devastation of this storm, but islands like St. Thomas are looking at over a year without power as every powerline and power infrastructure has been damaged by Irma. The problem does not just lay within the power outages, right now medical supplies are in such short supply people with serious injuries, but not yet life or death are being turned away. People with broken hips are being turned away at hospitals because there aren’t enough beds for them at the moment.
To make matters worse the food shortage is a major problem for those affected by the storm. As discussed earlier, the food shortage to all the islands is becoming over bearing for those trying to survive. The US is sending meals and water now, but how long can the US keep up with the demands when its own country is in peril from the same storm? People are currently relying on neighbors to help them get through the tough times. Neighbors share their food with one another and also keep a close eye on each other’s house, as looting has begun.
While people wait in long lines to try to buy small amounts of food or water, others have started going through the damaged houses looking for possible valuables. A similar situation is happening in the United States as well, people are out looting in stores or houses while others attempt to stay safe. The storm will eventually blow away as hurricanes do, but another hurricane is on the horizon, Hurricane Jose, and no predictions have been made yet on to which path it will choose to take.
Whether Jose will end up in highly populated areas, we do not know yet. We can take away from the experiences these people are currently facing though. If you have an opportunity to get out of the storm path, please do so! People die from natural disasters, so try to make sure you get out if you are able to. Also, stock up. By stocking up supplies you can ensure that you will be okay for at least a couple days until help is able to arrive. People from the Caribbean urge those that can to get out of the disaster path as they wish they could have.