The warning given to us a few days ago by the close passage to our coasts of the storm Ernesto should serve as a powerful reminder of the plethora of pending tasks that we have as a society to face these phenomena, which are becoming more frequent and more powerful.
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Lee este artículo en español.
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Since prehistoric times, hurricanes have been part of the reality of our archipelago. Faced with this undeniable fact, what we have left is to prepare ourselves to face them, so that they cause us the least possible damage.
In this line, it became clear in these days, we still have a long way to go, something, by the way, unusual, given the frequency of several times a year with which we have to deal with this issue.
As several experts told us in a story published on Saturday in this newspaper, the government did not show coordination or coherence in handling the Ernesto emergency, giving the impression that each component of the response acted on its own, without understanding all of them as part of the same operation.
It is urgent that this coordination be fine-tuned in time for other phenomena. Hurricane Maria, which almost seven years ago destroyed our island and deeply shook the Puerto Rican spirit, should have been an indelible lesson that made us understand the inescapable reality that we must be permanently prepared to face such phenomena. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
There are also more critical, long-term tasks that we owe to future generations so that they do not have to live, as we do, with their hearts in their throats every time one of these phenomena approaches.
The first is, of course, the issue of climate change. The increase in global temperatures makes hurricanes, which derive their strength from the heat of the waters, more frequent and more powerful, which is very threatening to all Caribbean peoples.
A group of the most eminent experts on this subject in Puerto Rico drafted a 600-page report with multiple recommendations for dealing with climate change. But the Legislative Assembly, in a reprehensible attitude that is no less outrageous for being expected, simply let the four-year period pass, in which so much time was wasted, without addressing this matter of the utmost importance.
We strongly urge the next Legislature to address this issue with the highest priority.
Likewise, we invite the authorities not to allow time to pass without paying attention to the serious problem of coastal erosion, another serious problem aggravated by climate change, which is already costing lives and resources.
In the same way, the authorities, and here the collaboration of the citizens is indispensable, must find a way to put a stop to irregular constructions, without permits and without complying with safety codes. Such constructions are usually the most dangerous in the event of atmospheric phenomena.
Last but not least, we need all political and civic forces pulling in the same direction to achieve the critical goal of returning to a robust and reliable electrical system that will not be, as it is now, another source of anguish when we are hit by an atmospheric phenomenon.
Hurricanes and storms, we reiterate, are a reality of our place in the world. Closing our eyes and praying that they do not arrive, or that if they do arrive they do not do any damage, will not save us. Only by preparing ourselves, in the aforementioned and much more, will we be able to reach the moment when the detection by Africa of a speck on a weather radar will not keep us awake at night here in our warm Caribbean.
We can and we must do it.
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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.
