Take a hard look at Haiti. Nope. HARDER. (Haiti has been a humanitarian crisis for centuries. The earth quake only brought it to the front pages.)
What do you see?
Read the history available on the web on Easter Island.
What do you see?
Here is a sad indictment... but before I get to it, I want to disabuse you of thinking that the Dominican Republic, with which Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola is somehow better at handling their allotment of the island's land (in truth, DR's population is half that of Haiti per square mile). They are not. They are just better at the tourist trade.
Take away Oil imports from ANY (or all) Caribbean island, and in time you will have a humanitarian crisis of Biblical proportions. Without Oil they cannot support their populations under ANY circumstance with the possible (but doubtful) exception of Cuba (and Trinidad, but they are not technically in the Caribbean). Within the decade, Oil imports into most of these islands will approach zero.
And there is nothing we can do about it.
What was the difference between New Orleans and Haiti? Not much. A natural disaster visited each city and the only reason the loss of life was not in the 10's of thousands in New Orleans was because of the resources of the U.S. Take away U.S. oil imports, throw in a L.A. earthquake or a South Florida hurricane... and Viola! A humanitarian crisis EVERY BIT as f***ed up as Haiti. "There but for the grace of G-d go I", but eventually it will be us, too.
Living in places with 10 - 30 million people at the intersection of an Act of G-d and Nature's Fury is sure to give you your money's worth at some point in the future.
Nature is a b*tch, and it is impossible to know the mind of G-d.
Take a good, hard look at Haiti...
What do you see?