Only the most synical can really believe that the catastrophe at Tavera was deliberate or that the President intended the death and destruction that followed. This was clearly a case of gross negligence, and I agree that those responsible should be held accountable.
Clearly, however, hurricanes and tropical storms will visit the Dominican Republic again, as they have for centuries, and there will be human suffering and economic losses as a result. It is not a question of how many dams or other parts of the infrastructure that need attending to; they all do from what I have seen!
My question is: what is being done to plan for these natural and reocurring disastors before they occur? After Katrina I have serious problems with the FEMA, however, it's existence is at least recognition that government has a duty to do something to prepare and to deal with the aftermath of these situations. That may be too much to ask for in the DR, but it's certainly worth making the effort to prod political leaders to a more preventative rather than this consistent reactionary posture.
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