Media coverage of this year’s rash of hurricanes was better than ever. Bahamians were able to receive up-to-the-minute reports of storm activity, even during the storms, in most areas. There were even television crews from the US doing live coverage from Grand Bahama and Abaco.
I remember the first time I ever experienced a hurricane in The Bahamas. I was watching TV as the weather man, from a station in Palm Springs, was showing the most likely paths the hurricane would take as it came to batter the Floridian coast.
The man repeatedly swept his hand across the image of the north Atlantic Ocean and pointed out where each of the different paths might hit land. As he did so, he completely ignored The Bahamas in every sweep. Not once did he mention the fact that, no matter which path the hurricane took, it would pass directly over several Bahamian islands, impacting the people at least as much as it would the people in Florida.
But it was a Florida TV station and you’ve got to play to your audience. The hurricane’s impending assault on the Florida coast was big news in Florida, being carefully followed by millions of viewers. The Bahamas getting ravaged was merely a pre-amble, not worth mentioning in the “big” news story. That’s the way it is with many things, the bigger story gets all the attention.
Maybe that’s what is happening in the aftermath of this year’s twin hurricanes. So much (justified) media attention is being given to the terrible devastation that occurred in Grand Bahama that Abaco is all but forgotten, or so it seems to some.
Several politicians, even the Prime Minister himself, have visited the island, TV crews in tow, to witness the destruction and promise quick relief. But they have all come and gone and there is no relief in sight for many of the island’s residents and business owners.
Homes with no roofs, hotels with no electricity or Internet connections, businesses with no telephone service, makes a difficult environment to even attempt restoration.
Some, in Abaco, are resentful. The Abacos, as an economic engine, deliver more than $60 million dollars into the government’s coffers every year. However, they receive less than 10 percent of that back, in the form of central government funds or services.
It has been said that politics play a part in Abaco’s being treated like an outside child. The island is a stronghold of the FNM party, the official opposition to the Bahamas’ PLP government. Former FNM Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is from Coopers Town and still represents the constituency in Parliament.
Hopefully, Prime Minister Christie, the National Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross will take heed of the cries for help that are emanating from Abaco. More things needs to happen, more quickly, for the suffering people of this Family Island. While attention can not be diverted from the many people in need, in Grand Bahama and other islands that were affected by the hurricanes, we must also remember Abaco.
