Barbuda PM calls for help from Britain to rebuild island devastated by hurricane

Independent islands in the Caribbean are fearful that their infrastructure will be left in ruins as countries such as the UK focus relief and aid efforts on their own overseas territories.

Gaston Browne, prime minster of Antigua and Barbuda, said his country was being overlooked in relief efforts because it was an independent island and had a higher per capita income than some Caribbean countries.

“Technically, the Queen is still our head of state, which means there should be some empathy,” he said. “But I think because we are independent, and they’re looking at some artificial per capita income criteria, we are being overlooked.”

The island of Barbuda was devastated by Hurricane Irma in September, with 95% of all properties on the island destroyed. When it was feared Barbuda would be struck again by Hurricane Jose a few days later, all the roughly 2,000 residents were evacuated to the larger sister island of Antigua.

The evacuees are living with friends and family on Antigua, or in large shelters run by the government in technical colleges, churches and a cricket stadium. People have begun to return to the island for a few days at a time to start the clear-up, often sleeping in tents on their lawns. Barbuda still has no water or electricity. Browne praised developing countries that had offered help, naming Cuba, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, as well as Qatar, China and India. Even the small Caribbean island of Dominica pledged $250,000 before Dominica itself was hit and devastated by Hurricane Maria, Browne said.

“We reciprocated afterwards by pledging $300,000,” he added “Even among countries that were devastated, there is a form of human cooperation to help each other.”

However, Browne said the response from developed nations was “minimal”: his country had received donations of roughly $200,000 from Canada and $100,000 from the US, but he was not aware of any donations from the UK or the EU.

The UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) has pledged £62m in emergency relief for Caribbean countries affected by hurricanes Irma and Maria. While £5m of this will go to the island of Dominica, it has not said how the rest of the money has been divided up. However, Michael Joseph, president of the Antiguan and Barbudan Red Cross, said his organisation had received $300,000 from the DfID.

Browne said he thought the country’s increased per capita income meant that wealthy countries were not giving them assistance to rebuild after the hurricane.

The hurricane has already greatly affected the country’s economy, he added, with airport closures and people cancelling holidays to Antigua under the mistaken belief that it, too, had been destroyed by the hurricane.

Shadow international development secretary Kate Osamor said that if the British government did not assist Antigua and Barbuda in its rebuilding efforts, this would be a “slap in the face” for the country.

“We have to look at our responsibility and of course the British territories do need to be looked after, but we do also need to look at where the greater need is, especially long-term need and the eastern part of the Caribbean has experienced various hurricanes,” she said.

Browne said that wealthy countries had a particular responsibility to help with rebuilding efforts, given that in his view the hurricanes that have devastated Caribbean islands over the past few months were the result of climate change.

“We’re a proud people, we don’t like the idea of going cap in hand and begging, but we happen to be the victims of climate change,” Browne said. ”Climate change is real and we’re suffering the consequences disproportionately.

“We all know that these powerful and frequent storms are a result of warmer seas, as a result of a warmer climate, which comes from large amounts of greenhouse gases that these large industrial countries are emitting into the earth’s atmosphere. So what they are actually using to create and sustain their wealth, these emissions, are harmful to our own survival.

“I think that the wealthy countries, the least they can do, is assist, not only Antigua and Barbuda, but the other countries in the Caribbean that suffered from this devastation.”

The British government has pledged to give £14m to Antigua and Barbuda over eight years between 2016 and 2024 to help build climate-resilient infrastructure projects.

A DFID spokesman said: “British troops and aid workers were amongst the very first in the region following hurricanes Irma and Maria, and delivered vital life-saving aid where it was needed most. Britain supported the Red Cross appeal and money has been provided to Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis through this appeal.”

Rebuilding on Barbuda has been complicated by the fact that due to a land tenure system on the island, most people do not take out home insurance, and so will not receive any money from private insurance companies.

“What should be a private risk has been transferred to become public risk. So it’s become our job to build homes,” said Browne. “The need in Barbuda is greater than in Dominica because homeowners in Dominica can look forward to getting an insurance cheque – Barbudans have nothing to look forward to.”