What’s Happening in Black River? A Breakdown of the Relief Failure After the Hurricane
Residents from Black River, St. Elizabeth are sounding the alarm, and frankly, it’s hard not to share their outrage. In the fragile hours after the hurricane swept through, what should have been a coordinated, decisive government response instead looked like hesitation, confusion, and absence. People are alleging that the relief agencies on the ground were ineffective—no tents, no structured food program, no organized medical presence. In a disaster of this scale, essential services should have been stationed and ready: emergency tents, mobile clinics, water and sanitation units, ground teams tracking displaced residents, and a rapid deployment of resources to stabilize those most affected. That simply did not happen. Instead, helicopters circled overhead, assessing the destruction from a distance, while families on the ground waited—hungry, exposed, unaccounted for. Displaced residents still don’t have proper shelter. They don’t have a central point of service. They don’t ...
