Welcome to Bahamas Local, Your Bahamas Online Search Engine

The trauma still lingers

Mon, May 10th 2021, 08:18 AM
Hurricane About Bahamians Nassau Guardian Stories

With three weeks until the start of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane season on June 1, Tropical Storm Andres in the eastern pacific has already broken a record for being the earliest storm to form ahead of the Pacific hurricane season, which begins May 15.

It has been over a year and a half since Hurricane Dorian destroyed lives, homes and businesses on Abaco and Grand Bahama, and there has been progress in the rebuilding effort.
However, there are still far too many storm survivors who are living in tents, modulars or with relatives and friends.
Others have not yet returned to their home island due to lack of housing and job opportunities in the aftermath of the storm that tore children away from their parents, husbands away from their wives, and thrust loved ones into different countries and to different islands in search of refuge from unimaginable destruction.
Though some storm victims who previously spoke to us have remained adamant about rebuilding on their storm-swept properties, there are those who say they cannot bear to return to the place where the pain of loss and trauma still aches within.
We look with some nervousness at projections for the upcoming storm season, wherein four major hurricanes are expected to impact the Caribbean, and the coastline of the continental United States.
As time goes on, news stories about the recovery of Dorian survivors lessen in frequency, but close to two years since Dorian’s passage feels like just yesterday, and residents on both islands pray that all they have managed to rebuild in the aftermath of 2019, is not damaged or lost again in 2021.
The trauma of displacement
Few in The Bahamas can forget the imagery from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Abaconians and Grand Bahamians who evacuated to different countries and islands likely recalled how evacuees from Louisiana were separated and spread out throughout the US.
So dramatic were the events of Katrina, that research into the psychological impact of the storm and its aftermath has been conducted, with findings pointing to Katrina-related trauma remaining “a significant public health issue for years to come”.

It has been over a year and a half since Hurricane Dorian destroyed lives, homes and businesses on Abaco and Grand Bahama, and there has been progress in the rebuilding effort.

However, there are still far too many storm survivors who are living in tents, modulars or with relatives and friends.

Others have not yet returned to their home island due to lack of housing and job opportunities in the aftermath of the storm that tore children away from their parents, husbands away from their wives, and thrust loved ones into different countries and to different islands in search of refuge from unimaginable destruction.
Though some storm victims who previously spoke to us have remained adamant about rebuilding on their storm-swept properties, there are those who say they cannot bear to return to the place where the pain of loss and trauma still aches within.

We look with some nervousness at projections for the upcoming storm season, wherein four major hurricanes are expected to impact the Caribbean, and the coastline of the continental United States.

As time goes on, news stories about the recovery of Dorian survivors lessen in frequency, but close to two years since Dorian’s passage feels like just yesterday, and residents on both islands pray that all they have managed to rebuild in the aftermath of 2019, is not damaged or lost again in 2021.

The trauma of displacement

Few in The Bahamas can forget the imagery from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Abaconians and Grand Bahamians who evacuated to different countries and islands likely recalled how evacuees from Louisiana were separated and spread out throughout the US.

So dramatic were the events of Katrina, that research into the psychological impact of the storm and its aftermath has been conducted, with findings pointing to Katrina-related trauma remaining “a significant public health issue for years to come”.

 

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

 Sponsored Ads