A Tale of Two Islands

People walk on a damaged street after the passage of Hurricane Irma in Caibarien, Cuba, September 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

By Vijay Prashad

 

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian and journalist. He is the chief
editor of Leftword Books (New Delhi). For the past twenty-five years, he
has written regularly for Frontline (India), where this report first
appeared.

 

This article was first carried on October 12, 2017 in Frontline (India).

 

Hurricanes develop in the Atlantic Ocean and move across the cold water towards the warmer sea of the Caribbean. All that energy journeys, picking up steam, driving forward with immense force. This September, hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katia and Maria thrust themselves into the Caribbean and devastated many of its islands as well as the coastline of the United States and Central America. One meteorologist, Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University, suggested that this September was the most deadly hurricane month since 1893.