Enough with the Chicken-Little coverage of Hurricane Dean already! -The iPINIONS Journal

On 29 August 2005, when Katrina was still gathering strength (and toying with islands) in the Caribbean Sea, here, in part, is the commentary I wrote to put hysterical forecasts about this “mother of all hurricanes” into perspective:

TV stations cover natural disasters purportedly as a public service. But there’s no denying that such coverage is a ratings boon for their bottom line – catering as it does to the perverse suspense that keeps us fixated on the hype of impending doom….

Katrina is a bona-fide category 5 hurricane making a beeline for Louisiana…. But, as far as natural disasters go, seasonal hurricanes passing through America today should not leave the magnitude of devastation in their wake that droughts inflict upon people in Africa every month…or, indeed, that hurricanes inflict upon my people in the Caribbean every year (as Hurricane Ivan’s decimation of Grenada demonstrated so poignantly last season).

Americans are blessed with the meteorological technology, shelters and other emergency management resources to forecast and weather hurricanes with virtually no loss of life. Nevertheless, how well local authorities enforce evacuation orders and how many daring fools ignore them…shall determine Katrina’s human casualties.

However, this commentary is as valid today as it was in 2005; despite the “blood-on-your-hands” criticism I received after post-Katrina floods devastated New Orleans. In fact, I would argue that most Caribbean natives are now every bit as blessed (as Americans are) with resources to weather hurricanes.

Indeed, nothing demonstrates this fact quite like reports confirming that, despite 140 mph winds and torrential rainfall, there was no loss of life on Jamaica. And this is especially noteworthy considering that only 47 of the 1000 shelters were partially occupied when Dean began pummeling this island on Sunday afternoon.

But this seemingly foolish act of defiance betrays the cynical regard people retain for human nature – notwithstanding forecasts about Mother Nature’s looming wrath. After all, experience suggests that people have far more to fear from human looting than they do from natural disasters (as evidenced by rampant looting in the wake of Britain’s Katrina, the earthquake in Peru, et al.)

I am putting my faith in God. I’m not leaving my home to go to no shelter. I need to protect my home from the looters. [unnamed woman on ABC News Sunday]

Too much crime in Kingston. I’m not leaving my home. [Kingston resident Paul Lyn]

That said, I still don’t understand why Americans always panic in reaction to the media’s Chicken-Little hurricane coverage by fleeing their Caribbean vacations. After all, even if a hurricane were to knock out electricity for a few days, what could be a more authentic (and romantic) island experience than “roughing it” on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world…?!