The Puerto Rico Department of Health reported in recent weeks the total number of 21 deaths as a result of the passage of Hurricane Fiona, exactly five years after «Maria», also with a devastating impact, devastated the same land.
On September 16, Fiona began its passage very close to Guadeloupe (in the Antilles), and then passed through the Caribbean Sea and made landfall in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Bermuda. On September 24, it became post-tropical and affected Nova Scotia, Canada, being the strongest system that has penetrated that region.
Due to its rudimentary infrastructure and the vulnerability to which it is exposed to climate change and its already visible consequences, the capacity of the Puerto Rican federal government has been put to the test once again by nature. The population needs to mount a rapid response on a highly exposed island, where Hurricane Maria in 2017 already caused thousands of deaths and left as a balance the sum of billions of dollars in damage, tormenting local residents that is still in process. to rebuild their homes
Humanitarian aid from other states is already under way. US President Joe Biden mounted an imposing aid operation. The Puerto Rican governor affirmed that they are better prepared than in 2017, «just to give you an example, FEMA now has four warehouses located throughout Puerto Rico instead of one,» Pedro Pierluisi emphasized.
Already in 2017, the administration of former US president Donald Trump was harshly criticized for a disorderly response to the latest hurricane, despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are US citizens living on a US island territory and are entitled to assistance from the federal government.
A late response or signs of indifference can be decisive in saving new lives.
Natalia Denegri: “A late response or signs of indifference can be decisive in saving new lives”
«The federal government and President Biden have a great opportunity here to show the world how things are done when they are done well,» former Puerto Rican mayor Yulín Cruz told CNN.
Humanitarian aid with Hurricane Maria
We, as individuals in conjunction with the Hessenfeld Foundation, were able to offer assistance to the victims in 2017. We brought more than 100 thousand dollars in food and medicine to Puerto Rico.
By chartering a plane, we’re bringing you $100,000 in medicine donated by Baptist Hospital, 500 Hasbro Toys, diapers, food and clothing. And we returned together with 130 sick people who have relatives in Miami, and who had no other way to get them out of there, to receive urgent medical attention, and they were referred to hospitals.
Arriving on the island together with Adamari López, Johnny Lozada, Carlos Ponce, Karla Monroig, Henry Zaka, Oscar Haza, authorities and doctors from the Baptist Hospital and the First Lady of the Miami Mayor’s Office Ana Regalado, we were received in person by the first Lady of Puerto Rico, Beatriz Rosselló.
We were very excited to contribute, from our place, a small grain of sand. And if we were able to do so much, imagine if different nations did it together.
Natalia Denegri: “We were very excited to contribute, from our place, a small grain of sand. And if we were able to do so much, imagine if different nations did it together”.
International cooperation is vital to prevent new natural disasters. Climate change is extremely dangerous for nations and it is the governments of developed countries that must help poor communities in this process of adaptation and adoption of new habits to reduce risks in the face of climate change.
This requires leadership at all levels: national, regional and international, for example reducing spending on wars and various conflicts between countries, and focusing on the destruction we are doing to the planet.
Europe, to name a key player on the international stage, had the world’s largest increase in arms imports in the last five years. Asia and Oceania are the main importing region in the last five years, with 43% of war transfers and six of the world’s largest importers: India, Australia, China, South Korea, Pakistan and Japan, reveals a recent SIPRI report. .
«Tensions between China and many other countries in Asia and Oceania are the main driver of arms imports in the region,» the report’s authors said in a statement.
Climate change
The World Meteorological Organization, dependent on the UN, assures that climate change and extreme weather events «in the last two years have caused the loss of thousands of people, displaced millions and cost hundreds of billions of dollars» in different sectors. of the planet, mainly in regions such as Asia, aggravated by a higher percentage of the population living below the national poverty line in nations such as the Philippines, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam in the Asia-Pacific region.
«Weather and climate hazards, particularly floods, storms and droughts, have had a major impact on many countries in the region,» said WMO Secretary-General Petter Taalas.
According to his calculations, these phenomena caused losses of 238,000 million dollars to China, 87,000 million to India, 83,000 million to Japan and 24,000 to South Korea.
In its Global Assessment Report 2022, the United Nations Organization (UN), published by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) presented the most feared diagnosis for 2030: the world will face some 560 catastrophes each year between now and the beginning of the next decade. This growing increase is due to climate change and inadequate risk management.
On the other hand, the report «Climate Change 2022. Mitigation of Climate Change dell’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change», also released by the UN, records that «during the decade 2010-2019, the average annual emissions of greenhouse gases greenhouses in the world reached the highest levels in human history, although the pace of growth has slowed down. The report warns that Asia is a region strongly affected by climate change and, at the same time, responsible for high emission rates.
Natalia Denegri: «Countries need educational policies to improve their diet»
Various specialists agree that the difficulties of the Asian countries are aggravated by the reluctance in the arrival of the funds promised by developed countries, while the time available is getting shorter every year.
«Sustainable development is under threat. Food and water insecurity, health risks and environmental degradation are on the rise,» Taalas concluded.
Recent research led by Professor Kyung-Ja Ha of Pusan National University indicated that «increasing temperatures will have a direct impact on human health and agriculture, so strategies need to be developed to adapt to this situation.» According to the researcher, «heat waves will become more frequent and intense in East Asia due to climate change.»
«Heat waves have intensified over the past 60 years and will become much more common in a warmer climate, which will have a devastating impact on life on the planet,» Ha said.
Renewable energies: concrete actions in the face of the devastating scenario predicted by climate change.
«International cooperation is vital to prevent new natural disasters»
China, as the great Asian power, is at the forefront in the development of renewable energies in the region, thanks to policies whose main objective is to initiate an energy revolution.
To meet its goal of zero emissions by 2060, it needs to invest 2.2 trillion yuan ($340 billion) annually through 2030, as well as continued investment from the private sector to continue funding green projects. And it developed its own rules for allocating and disclosing the use of proceeds from green bonds.
For its part, India issued US $6.8 billion in green bonds during 2021, which was the largest volume since the first issuance in 2015. In South Korea, its energy sector remains dependent on fossil fuels and imports.
Natalia Denegri is an Argentine actress, television host, producer and writer, residing in Miami, United States.
