DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

The passing of Tropical Storm and now Hurricane Melissa has exposed deep flaws in city urban planning and management. The widespread flooding and damage caused by Tropical Storm Melissa are not mere acts of nature, but a stark reflection of structural failures in how the nation’s cities are planned and managed, according to leading environmentalist Luis Carvajal, as reported in El Dia

In a scathing assessment in El Dia, Carvajal argued that the true culprits behind the storm’s impact are not water or extreme weather, but rather “institutional weakness, permissiveness, lack of maintenance, and regulatory capture.”

The expert emphasized that water, when properly understood and managed, is an asset. “The water, well understood and managed, is an ally; it can always be beneficial. Only humans, with our decisions, prevent it from being so and turn it into a threat,” Carvajal...