Don’t lose sight of the crisis in the Caribbean islands

Hurricane Irma was bad enough in Florida, but not as catastrophic as some had feared.

That, unfortunately, was not true of the Caribbean. The top half of the so-called Leeward Islands — including the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Barbuda, St. Barts and St. Maarten/St. Martin — were hit so ferociously by the Category 5 storm that they look like war zones.

Farther to the west, Puerto Rico and the island nations of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos also took significant hits.

At least 34 fatalities have been recorded, with the number likely to grow. The process of rebuilding and restoring livelihoods will take years in some places.

Many Americans might not have fully absorbed the scale of the devastation. Cable news channels, which went pretty much 24/7 in the days leading up to Irma’s arrival and then posted reporters out in its wrath as it made landfall, gave relatively little time to the devastation in the Caribbean islands.

This seems odd, because the scenes of destruction in places like Barbuda, more than the admonishments of some reporter, would have provided motivation for people in America to take this storm seriously.

More important, the relative lack of coverage should not be a signal for Americans to ignore the destruction beyond U.S. borders. These islands are our neighbors. For many Americans, they are home to family. For others, they are beloved vacation spots.

Some of the larger islands have significant poverty and cannot easily rebound. And the posh resorts are major employers for people of modest means.

Even as money and resources go into rebuilding Texas and Florida, Americans can afford to donate to relief efforts in the Caribbean. Some of the smaller islands — territories of wealthy nations such as Britain, France, the Netherlands and the USA — can expect significant governmental help. But the sovereign nations of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Antigua and Barbuda will need aid from friendly nations and private donors.

With all the attention paid to Florida from Irma and Texas from Hurricane Harvey, it’s important not to lose sight of the crisis in the Caribbean.