IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v238y2019ic21.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What the Puerto Rican hurricanes make visible: Chronicle of a public health disaster foretold

Author

Listed:
  • Benach, Joan
  • Díaz, Marinilda Rivera
  • Muñoz, Nylca J.
  • Martínez-Herrera, Eliana
  • Pericàs, Juan Manuel

Abstract

García Márquez's novel, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”, narrates the multiple strands of a story leading up to a murder in a small Caribbean village. The novel shows both the incredulity of those who do not believe it possible that this tragic death could occur, and the impotence of those who see it coming but can do nothing to prevent it. Something akin to this double incapacity seems to be occurring today in Puerto Rico. In September 2017, the passage of Hurricanes Irma and María caused a public health disaster with large-scale death and destruction. Paradoxically, this catastrophe has made visible the need to evaluate the critical socio-environmental situation of this country, and to analyse the underlying social factors contributing to the problems caused by the hurricanes. Why did neither the US nor the Puerto Rican government react as expected when faced with such a serious situation? For decades, this country has been suppressed by colonial domination, exploitation of the workforce, and health discrimination. It has been a “laboratory”, where colonial practices have institutionalized social control, racism, and inequality, with profound negative effects on society, quality of life and health equality. Poverty and unemployment have always been very high, and thousands of families live in precarious housing situations. Additionally, current labour reforms imposed as part of a neoliberal agenda, are eroding the job security and protections of the working population, while education, health, housing, pensions, energy, and land are being progressively privatized. What are the root causes of this situation? What future does the country await? To answer these questions, critical and comprehensive scrutiny of history showing what the hurricanes have helped to make visible is required. This shows that neoliberal colonialism has shaped the social features behind the principle health and inequality problems of the Puerto-Rican population.

Suggested Citation

  • Benach, Joan & Díaz, Marinilda Rivera & Muñoz, Nylca J. & Martínez-Herrera, Eliana & Pericàs, Juan Manuel, 2019. "What the Puerto Rican hurricanes make visible: Chronicle of a public health disaster foretold," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:238:y:2019:i:c:21
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112367
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619303521
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112367?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sara Reardon, 2017. "Puerto Rico struggles to assess hurricane’s health effects," Nature, Nature, vol. 551(7680), pages 282-283, November.
    2. Woodward, A.J. & Samet, J.M., 2018. "Climate change, hurricanes, and health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 108(1), pages 33-35.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leah M. Haverhals, 2022. "How Social Determinants of Health of Individuals Living or Working in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Home-Based Long-Term Care Programs in Puerto Rico Influenced Recovery after Hurricane Maria," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-19, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mary Fox & Christopher Zuidema & Bridget Bauman & Thomas Burke & Mary Sheehan, 2019. "Integrating Public Health into Climate Change Policy and Planning: State of Practice Update," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.
    2. Sara M. Amolegbe & Adeline R. Lopez & Maria L. Velasco & Danielle J. Carlin & Michelle L. Heacock & Heather F. Henry & Brittany A. Trottier & William A. Suk, 2022. "Adapting to Climate Change: Leveraging Systems-Focused Multidisciplinary Research to Promote Resilience," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-18, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:238:y:2019:i:c:21. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.