Excerpt from researchinginternaldisplacement.org
The reality of people and even whole communities having to move due to adverse conditions has become one of the consequences of the present climate emergency. Although displacement, particularly evacuations intended to save lives, is justified in many situations, there are instances where displacement is used as ‘cover’ for something else. A catastrophic event in Barbuda, triggered by the 2017 Hurricane Irma disaster, provides insight into this other side of displacement.
“For the first time in 300 years, there’s not a single living person on the island of Barbuda”. These were the words of Ronald Sanders, the ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States. He made this statement in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and proceeded to make the case that the hurricane caused extensive damage, rendering the island, in his words and those of the administration he represents, “uninhabitable”. This conclusion, that an entire island was not fit to support its people, was arrived at even before official assessments were made by the relevant international agencies.