This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. ,
Long before colonialism brought slavery to the Caribbean, the native islanders saw hurricanes and storms as .
The of the Greater Antilles and the , or Caribs, of the Lesser Antilles developed systems that enabled them to live with storms and limit their exposure to damage.
On the larger islands, such as Jamaica and Cuba, the Taino practiced crop selection with storms in mind, preferring to plant root crops such as cassava or yucca with high resistance to damage from hurricane and storm winds, as Stuart Schwartz describes in his 2016 book 鈥�.鈥�
The Kalinago avoided building their to limit storm surges and wind damage. The used trees as windbreaks against storm winds.
In fact, it was the Kalinago and Taino 鈥� primarily the British, Dutch, French and Spanish 鈥� about hurricanes and storms. Even the , a Taino and Mayan word denoting the .
But then colonialism changed everything.
A French advertising card from around 1900 depicts colonial power in Guadeloupe, with a trader sitting comfortably among sacks of cotton, cocoa and coffee while islanders work in the field. I , including how history molded responses to disasters today.
The current that the Caribbean鈥檚 small islands are experiencing did not start a few decades ago. Rather, the is a direct result of the exploitative systems forced upon the region by colonialism, its legacies of slave-based land policies and ill-suited construction and development practices, and its .
Forcing people into harm鈥檚 way
The colonial powers with the land, where they lived and how they recovered from natural hazard events.
Rather than growing crops that could sustain the local food supply, the Europeans who began arriving in the 1600s focused on exploitative extractive economic models and export cash crops through the .
They forced Indigenous people off their lands and , which made it easier to import enslaved peoples and goods and to export cash crops such as sugar and tobacco to Europe 鈥� and also left communities vulnerable to storms. They also developed settlements in low-lying areas, often near rivers and streams, which could provide transportation for agricultural produce but which became flood risks during heavy rains.
Homes built to the water鈥檚 edge in Saint-Martin, an overseas collectivity of France, were devastated when Hurricane Irma hit in 2017. Today, of the Caribbean鈥檚 population lives along the coast, often less than a mile from the shore. These coastlines are not only highly exposed to hurricanes but also to sea-level rise fueled by climate change.
Legacies of slave-based land policies
Colonialism鈥檚 legacy of land policies has also made recovery from disasters much harder today.
When colonial powers took over, a few landowners were given control of most of the land, while the majority of the population was forced onto marginal and small areas. The local population had no legal right to the land, as the people did not possess land certificate titles or deeds and were often forced to pay rent to landlords.
After independence, most island governments tried and to redistribute it to the working class. But these efforts, mainly in the 1960s and 鈥�70s, to transform land ownership, improve economic development or reduce vulnerability.
One colonial legacy perpetuating vulnerability to this day is known as crown land, or state land. In the English-speaking Caribbean, all land for which there was no land grant was considered . Crown land can be found in every English-speaking island to this day.
How colonial powers controlled the Caribbean over time.For example, in Barbuda, all land is vested in the 鈥溾�� on behalf of Barbudans. This means that an individual born on the island of Barbuda cannot individually own land.
Instead, land is , which limits access to the credit and development opportunities that were sorely needed to after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Most Barbudans were unable to insure their homes because they had .
This and land tenure systems created by colonialism places Caribbean residents at and limits their ability to seek financial credit for disaster recovery today.
The roots of poor construction
Vulnerability to disasters in the Caribbean also has roots in post-slavery and subsequent .
After emancipation from slavery, freed people had no right nor access to land. To build houses, they were forced to lease land from the former enslavers who at a whim could terminate their employment or kick them off the land.
This led to the development of a particular type of housing structure known as in countries such as Barbados. These houses are tiny and were constructed in a way in which they could be easily taken apart and loaded onto carts, should the residents be forced out by their former enslavers. Many Bajans still , although quite a few have been converted to restaurants or shops.
Chattel houses are still used as homes in Barbados. , In Aruba, Bonaire and Cura莽ao, owned by the Dutch, , on land not suitable for agriculture and easily damaged by storms. These former slave huts are now tourist attractions, but the colonial patterns of settling along the coast has left many coastal communities and .
The vulnerability of such houses is not only a result of their exposure to natural hazards but also the .
Slave huts were built on the coast in Bonaire, where they were vulnerable to storm surge. , In many islands today, poorer residents can鈥檛 afford protective measures, such as installing storm shutters or purchasing solar-powered generators.
They , such as steep hillsides, where housing tends to be cheaper. Houses in these areas are also often poorly constructed with low-grade materials, such as galvanized sheeting for roofs and walls.
This situation is made worse by the informal and unregulated nature of residential housing construction in the region and the .
Due to the , most housing or building standards or codes in the Commonwealth Caribbean are relics from the United Kingdom and in the French Antilles from France. Building standards across the region lack uniformity and are generally subjective and uncontrolled. and staffing constraints mean that codes and standards more often than not remain unenforced.
Progress, but still a lot of work to do
The Caribbean has made progress in developing to try to increase resilience in recent years. And while damage from torrential rain is still not properly addressed in most Caribbean building standards, scientific guidance is available through the in Barbados.
Individual islands, including and , have new minimum building standards for recovery after disasters. The island of Grenada is hoping to as it recovers from Hurricane Beryl. Trinidad and Tobago has developed a but has .
Construction standards can help the islands build resilience. But work remains to be done to overcome the legacy of colonial-era land policies and development that have left island towns vulnerable to increasing storm risks.
, Assistant Professor of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems,
This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
