# So, what happened to the Dominican Republic anyway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722 "2008-09-09T02:04:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/1 "2008-09-09T02:04:23Z")
Not really pit-worthy, but something that’s been bugging the crap out of me the last few weeks. Based on all the hurricane coverage I’ve seen, heard and read the last month or so, it seems that the Dominican Republic has vanished from the face of the earth, and Haiti has become an island nation unto itself. Seriously. Since Tropical Storm Fay started picking up steam a few weeks ago, through Hurricane Ike this week, I have not heard one word about the Dominican Republic, or the island of Hispaniola which it shares with Haiti. All the news media talk about is Haiti, like that’s the name of the island and it’s the only country on it. What gives? Are they afraid we’ll be confused if they talk about “Hispaniola”? Do they think the concept of two countries sharing a single island is too difficult a concept for us to manage? Or is the Dominican Republic getting off easy and Haiti really is taking the worst of these storms? ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/2 "2008-09-09T02:09:22Z")
Well I live in that Island lost in the media world, and I can say that it has not been too bad. Ike was here just yesterday, and for almost the whole day while it was hovering above us, there was no rain in the capital. Winds were not that strong either. It’s weird but the heavier rain hit the capital after Ike had left the island. :dubious: The northern coast got hit with heavy rain and wind, but no real calamities have happened. For some reason, Haiti gets the worst part of all these storms. We’ve been really lucky, all these storms have missed hitting us directly by very small distances. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/3 "2008-09-09T02:33:45Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > Well I live in that Island lost in the media world, and I can say that it has not been too bad. Who are you?! 😉 Yes, we’re here. Things are damp but quiet. Unfortunately poor Haiti always gets it much worse and appears in the news much more often. We are just little lucky country, we are. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/4 "2008-09-09T12:27:09Z")
They’re getting off easy so far (so’s my island country, can’t complain). 😉 Haiti is not so lucky, plus whatever rain falls on both countries, it is probably going to affect Haiti more, since it is in worse shape than its neighbor. IIRC, a few years back there were lots of rains (not sure if it was a storm or what) on the islands (I think it went through Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and then Haiti). All three got flooded, but the one most damaged was Haiti. Deforestation contributed to that. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/5 "2008-09-09T12:42:12Z")
The hurricanes get confused, and don’t know whether to hit the DR or Dominica, so they think to hell with it and head to Haiti instead. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/6 "2008-09-09T13:46:53Z")
Wow, I guess that does explain why all the news coverage is about Haiti. I didn’t realize they were actually getting hit harder than the DR. I thought for sure it was just the news media trying to dumb it down for us. It still bugs me though that they talk about Haiti and “the island” as if they are one and the same. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/7 "2008-09-09T18:22:41Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Who are you?! 😉 > > Yes, we’re here. Things are damp but quiet. Unfortunately poor Haiti always gets it much worse and appears in the news much more often. We are just little lucky country, we are. Maybe I should ask the same question to you 🙂 Just a 20 year old working here until I go back to college in Florida. And you? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/8 "2008-09-10T14:19:15Z")
Haiti is just plain heavily deforested with a lot of near starving people living in flimsy housing. The DR is in much better shape. The government in the late 60s/70s worked hard to prevent deforestation. So guess which one survives a hurricane strike better? (Plus the media always focuses on the worst hit place they can get cameras to.) ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/9 "2008-09-14T04:59:55Z")
This may be old news to everyone else, but I just found out that the “_Guns, Germs and Steel_” guy has a section in his 2005 [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_(book)) _Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed_ in which he compares the failure of Haiti with the relative success of the D.R. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/10 "2008-09-14T18:51:05Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > This may be old news to everyone else, but I just found out that the “_Guns, Germs and Steel_” guy has a section in his 2005 [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_(book)) _Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed_ in which he compares the failure of Haiti with the relative success of the D.R. Haiti was a failure yes. But Dominican Republic being a “relative” success is certainly highly debatable. The capital city aside, and even that has its many issues, the country is poor all over, with the government stealing and lying as leisure. We do have a few high-end luxury areas, and also middle class tourist destinations , but many of those are run from companies foreign to the island… ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-happened-to-the-dominican-republic-anyway/462722/11 "2008-09-14T20:01:57Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > Haiti was a failure yes. > > But Dominican Republic being a “relative” success is certainly highly debatable. I don’t disagree with you, and have no business arguing either way because I’ve never been to either country, nor have I studied them in any fashion. That part was straight from the Wikipedia article. 😉