Published 22:09 IST, September 14th 2019
Hurricane Dorian: Bahamians struggle to find work after storm
Thousands of survivors in the Bahamas are struggling to find work post three weeks of Category 5 storm Dorian that hit the islands mid-August and devastated.
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Thousands of survivors in the Bahamas are struggling to find work post three weeks of the Category 5 storm that hit the islands mid-August. Northwestern Bahamas is famously known for its casinos, golf courses and mega yachts are worried as the storm forced them into deep poverty and many struggling to find work to earn their daily bread. The category 5 storm, Dorian wreaked havoc on two islands. As the northwestern Bahamas struggles to recover from Dorian, residents braced for newly formed Tropical Storm Humberto, which was expected to hit two islands over the weekend that were already battered by Dorian. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was passing just east of Great Abaco island early Saturday and would bring heavy rains to the northwestern Bahamas.
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People struggling to find jobs
The Bahamas is mainly dependent on tourists but the months prior to the hurricane the unemployment rate on the island had decreased slightly. It stood at 10 percent on the archipelago which has a population of around 395,000 inhabitants. On Grand Bahama, it was 11% and had increased to 9% on nearby Abaco before Dorian devastated both the islands. People are struggling very hard to find any type of work after thousands lost their jobs. An IT technician from Abaco said that it remains totally unclear how many Bahamians affected by the hurricane have sought and obtained unemployment benefits, but the government has made sure that it will come up with certain measures for evacuees to access those benefits.
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Govt pledged to announce new measures
They said the government has pledged to announce new measures to help around 5000 people who were evacuated to New Providence, the most populous island in the Bahamas, from Grand Bahama and the Abaco islands after Dorian. More than three-quarters of the building was destroyed by the hurricane, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of a seven-day visit. He said the schools and hospitals were completely devastated. Thousands of people are struggling with food, water, and shelter. On the other hand, the cyclone has helped some workers like carpenters, construction crews and electricians to get more works. Before the storm hit, the Bahamas had 32,000 people who were self-employed.
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21:35 IST, September 14th 2019