A multi-hazard history of Antigua*

Antigua experiences earthquakes, droughts and hurricanes. To isolate for study each of these as they occur, would be to over simplify the inter-relationships between the aftereffects of one and the occurrence and the effects of the next. Moreover, there will be conditions arising from factors outside the natural disaster spectrum which bear upon, and are themselves affected by, all of these phenomena. This interplay of events and conditions is readily illustrated in the case of island countries, which have a natural and clearly defined containment. Such interrelationships suggest a complex human-ecological system which must be recognized if environmental balance and compatability are to be maintained - particularly in respect of hazards. This documentary analysis of the colonial era in Antigua, has to conclude for the time being with questions concerning the environmental effectiveness of imported systems of administration which, with no knowledge of comparable natural hazards, assumed sectoral separation.