There’s been Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Michael and now there’s Dorian. Every year there appears to be a major flood, earthquake or hurricane. Each of these natural disasters, including the land-based ones like tornadoes, bring one thing: destruction. Not only is there physical and emotional devastation, but there is economic devastation as well.
Climate change will only make these natural disasters more frequent and increase their intensity. For example, Hurricane Sandy was a Category 3 in 2012, and in more recent terms, Hurricane Dorian was a Category 5.
Between those seven years, the climate only worsened because of an increase in global greenhouse emissions. The rising sea level, because of melting ice caps, makes the damage much worse once those disasters hit. Because of the rising sea level, it should cause concern about certain tropical areas, such as the Bahamas.
Tropical areas such as the Bahamas and Puerto Rico are constantly hit with disasters like those. Those places also house low-income individuals. Those who are wealthy and privileged do not contribute to the effort to ensure other less fortunate individuals recover from the natural disaster. When a natural disaster hits, the wealthy have the ability to leave and relocate to a safer area, leaving those that cannot afford to move behind.
Those who are less fortunate cannot even turn toward the government for help. Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Administration, or FEMA, denied the island of Ocracoke, which is off the coast of North Carolina, assistance after Hurricane Dorian. The federal response was that the impact was not severe enough to warrant attention. If anything, the creation of FEMA only encouraged the privileged to migrate because they assumed it was in the government’s hands, and it was going to take care of the problem.
Those individuals who are fortunate must contribute to relief efforts to ensure their less fortunate counterparts are safe. Unless everyone, globally, takes a collaborative effort to slow down climate change, disasters will only continue to worsen, and so will the gap between the rich and the poor.
Iana Fields is a freshman studying english creative writing at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk to Iana? Tweet her @FieldsIana.
