6.1.2. Living Conditions Four Years Later

Despite it being four years since Hurricane Maria impacted Dominica, Dominicans were still struggling to recover from the damages and losses they endured in 2017. This was highlighted by two of the interviewees, who stated the following:

". . . there are still people who live in shacks, on dirt floors with just barely any shelter. They have the galvanize but there are holes in there. And they have tarps over it."—Female, 56, St. David, 3 children.

". . . there are people who have it worse than me. Because there are people who still have tarpaulin over their homes, and they have nowhere else to go because they have no job so they can pay rent. Nobody to help them."—Female, 38, St. David, 2 children.

Similarly, the interviewees highlighted their current struggles in recovering from Hurricane Maria, noting that they were either living in a home with cracks, water-damaged walls or partially restored roofs, or one which needed to be demolished. Additionally, some of the respondents were forced to relocate, with one respondent noting that she was currently renting and had just started the foundation for her new home, and another stating that she lived in a small structure built by her father and teenage son and was unsure as to when she will be able to return to her former home. According to most of the women, their inability to recover from the damages caused by Hurricane Maria was due to financial constraints and were currently being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasingly excessive cost of living. Social workers can be available in communities to be the first point of call for intervention. Again, knowledge of systems that provide formal support is integral to helping the populace to better function post-disaster.
