Sierra Leone Negative Impacts

The fact that Sierra Leone is highly vulnerable to natural disasters is of a larger concern because they do not have the proper means of dealing with them. In more developed countries like our own for example, although we are at risk for major disasters as evident by this current hurricane season, we have the appropriate means to prepare and handle the situations before and when they occur. This reflects the government of Sierra Leone and its inability to have procedural plans in place as well as systems to help cope and assist with those needing support. This also reflects the poor infrastructure and city planning of the affected areas. While the immediate concern is getting help and relief to the areas directly affected by the disaster, another

For a country like Sierra Leone that is heavily reliant on importation and exportation of goods, having these systems backed up can be detrimental to the economy. As I mentioned in the first section of this essay, Sierra Leone’s exports and imports compose of 59.2% of the nations GDP. When 59.2% of a country’s economic income is wiped out over night it becomes difficult for the country to rebuild without external help. Thankfully help is being provided by organizations like the UNDP, however, it is not coming fast enough and the people of Sierra Leone are still struggling.

Article #2 Although all of the difficulties and struggles mentioned in the previous section are still important, it is also important to look at the causes and the discourses of specific past events that potentially led to this disastrous mudslide. In Lansana Gberie’s article “Sierra Leone’s Disaster Was Caused by Neglect, Not Nature,” the author describes how corrupt political influences led to the devastating mudslide that recently happened. The author states, “the Freetown mudslide was caused by a more deliberate human activity than is usually associated with climate change and similar

The author also argues that the occurrence has to do with the fact that once the civil war in Sierra Leone broke out, it interfered with so many areas surrounding the government, economy and the people that it became difficult to limit expansion of housing and infrastructure from spreading into the protected land. When the American embassy was built in Sierra Leone in 2006, the area became more appealing to the people of the country because of the perceived safety that the embassy provided. Overall, the author took a firm stance in claiming that President Koroma of Sierra Leone needs to take immediate action in removing people and homes from this land, restoring it to the protected land that it should be, in order to avoid future disasters. Gberie ends the article stating, “This demands real action, including the demolition of those buildings and the relocation of the people occupying them. If he fails, more of Sierra Leone’s people are sure to die” (Gberie: 2017). The significance of the author’s claims is that because all of the hillside land on Sugarloaf has been deforested, the mudslides are a much more likely occurrence. It is the trees and plants on a mountain or hillside that help to hold the mud from sliding down. When large