16-1 Disaster Recovery in Hawai'i and Puerto Rico and Widening Inequalities

by Meghan Mertyis

America’s disaster recovery system is broken and in need of major reform. When disasters strike, marginalized populations are often the hardest hit but have the fewest resources to recover. The result is a disaster recovery system that exacerbates and reinforces racial, income, and cultural inequities at each stage of response and recovery. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in places with deep colonial legacies of oppressive foreign control, settler occupation, and economic exploitation.

The legacy of U.S. colonialism, imperialism, and disenfranchisement that has occurred in Hawaiʻi and Puerto Rico, from the point of western contact through today, is central to the story of recovery currently being written. Our disaster recovery system is barely designed to adequately assist disaster survivors who live on the mainland, much less those who reside on islands with long colonial histories.

Consequently, time and time again, we see widening inequities in the recovery of communities that call these places their home. For instance, after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, FEMA denied nearly two-thirds (60%) of the about 1.2 million applicants. This is twice the denial rate in Texas after Hurricane Harvey. At least 77,000 Puerto Rican households were denied assistance because FEMA failed to recognize local land ownership practices and the island’s unique housing system.

While advocates worked with FEMA to create a new tool – a sworn statement – to help survivors overcome this barrier, FEMA has refused to notify survivors affected by the issue nor has it made the resource available on its website, at local Disaster Recovery Centers, or on social media.

In addition to inequitable recovery outcomes, many disasters, such as the catastrophic Maui wildfires of 2023, are themselves a direct product of the legacy of colonialism, imperialism, and disenfranchisement. From the large sugar plantations of the 1800s and 1900s to modern-day developers of mansions and luxury resorts, for centuries, big corporations have privatized Hawaiʻi’s water system and stripped Native Hawaiʻians of their right to their own water. Because of this move toward privatization, those fighting the fires found themselves without the water necessary to protect communities.

The histories of colonial legacies demand a disaster response that is suited to the unique needs of the communities impacted. They require a disaster recovery system that is culturally competent, accessible, timely, and grounded in the experiences and expertise of community organizations and leaders who are best suited to understand what solutions will work in their homes. Any effort to achieve a just disaster recovery must take a deep look at communities’ culture, social norms, and legacies of oppression, colonialism, imperialism, and systemic racism, and subsequently invest in the resources necessary to right past disinvestments. By centering the lived experiences of those who call these places their homes, letting community leaders lead, and properly investing in on-the-ground solutions, we can begin to repair our broken disaster recovery system.