For the island of Hispaniola, a hurricane strike could be disastrous for both Haiti's and the Dominican Republic's ability to handle a natural disaster.
For the island of Hispaniola, a hurricane strike could be disastrous for both Haiti's and the Dominican Republic's ability to handle a natural disaster.

While 2008's hurricane season considered slightly above average by many meteorologists, the storms damaged nearly half of Hispaniola's agriculture and tourism industries. The island is home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, two countries with long-standing tensions, saw their economic and political conditions deteriorate with each storm.

The two nations were also hit by three natural disasters in 2004. According to the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (CEPAL), yearly hurricane and tropical storm flooding, as well as three hurricanes in a single month in 2008 caused more than $200 million in damage, affecting many of their major crops and hotels.

Ramona Hernandez, a sociology professor and director of the City University of New York (CUNY) Dominican Studies Institute, said another storm hit would be disastrous for the island, and that severe storms have long lasting effects on the people of Hispaniola.

"If [a storm] has the same effects that Georges did years ago, then it will be among one of the few devastating and unforgettable natural disasters that still haunts the people of the Caribbean," she said. "The construction of the buildings is lacking. There is not cement like there is here in the U.S. When these storms hit, they are already fragile and it is worse for them than a storm of the same caliber hitting the U.S."

Hostility between the two countries dates back generations, stemming back to colonialism up to the occupation of the Dominican Republic by Haiti. During Operation Perejil, 15,000 to 25,000 innocent Haitians were massacred by former Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo, whose rule is regarded as one of the bloodiest eras of the 20th century.

In addition to historical tensions, the current murky economic situation in Haiti is providing added stress in the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, 22 percent of new births are accounted for by Haitians who illegally cross the border in hopes of receiving better healthcare.

The Dominican Republic is already hard-pressed to provide proper healthcare for its own citizens partially because of past hurricanes that damaged many of the healthcare facilities. If another hurricane hits the island, the possibility of the effects on healthcare and illegal immigration could lead to rising governmental tensions.

According to The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, conservative estimates state that there could be between 500,000 and one million undocumented Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Anti Slavery International reports that 40,000 of are working in sugar plantations.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), reports that 54 percent of Haitians live in extreme poverty. The nation's forest area is below average amongst most other nations, as of 2000. This factor causes major flooding during periods of heavy rainfall and hurricanes.

The Dominican Republic's economy depends on their tourism industry, which is the biggest revenue earner for the country. Housing 70,000 hotel rooms, it has more hotel rooms than any other country in the Caribbean.

Agriculture has also felt the effects of the severe weather. Hurricanes damaged the Dominican Republic's growth of sugar and coffee, which are the country's two biggest crops.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti came together in 2004 to request aid to improve their shared watershed systems, a difficult task considering the governmental tensions between the two island inhabiters. Hernandez said this sort of action is not uncommon.

"Although it is highly publicized that there are tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, after these storms the Caribbean people come together and put their differences aside for the time being," she said. "It is really amazing how after natural disaster that these people are able to mobilize themselves so quickly and pick up the pieces...I want to stress that the Caribbean people are fully capable of coming together after disaster strikes. They will do it again."


Carly Porter and Gina Cherundolo contributed to the content of this story.

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