09/15/17 09/15/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> this is very tragic. it is very sad. many of us have loved ones in assisted living facilities, and we expect that care to be there for those people. we immediately started a criminal investigation into this matter and made for everyone was evacuated. we took control of the entire building immediately thereafter. amy: a tragedy in florida. eight elderly residents are found dead after they languished without air conditioning in sweltering conditions during

hurricane irirma. they died even though a level one trauma center was located across the street. we will go to florida to get the latest. we will look at how the sick, the elderly,y, the vulnerablblee prototected around the country. then the u.s., which were devastated by irma. survivors say nearly everything was lost. water, ice, electricity, close for children, diapers, food, all of that is using insulin because there is nothing. amy: we will speak with award-winning virgin islands writer tiphanie yanique. then to south asia, where more than 1300 people have died and more thahan 40 millionon have bn impacted in some of the worst flooding to hit the region in decades. >> if our demands are not

fulfilled, what should we do gekko we have to speak in the side of the road, die on the side of the road, we have nothing. we don't have a house. nothing to you. we don't have food to eat. everything was swept away by the floods. amy: we will go to kathmandu, nepal. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to demococracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. north korea fired a ballllistic missile across nororthern japan friday, just days after the u.n. security council approved a new round of sanctions against the north kokorean regime. the intermediate-range missile triggered air raid sirens across the island of hokkaido, drawing condemnation from japanese prime minister shinzo abe, who called it totally unacceptable. in response to the test, south korea conducted a missile drill ofof its own, , releasing a vido showing the launch of misissiles capable of reaching any part of north korea. this is south koreanan president moon jae-in.

>> north korea should clearly realize that it is entering a cat of downfall due to a diplomatic and economic isolation. as much as itt increases reckles provocation. a makeup at the united nations, the security council is set to hold an emergency meeting on north korea ththis afternoon. in a statement, secretary of state rerex tillerson called on china and russia to take direct action, including new sanctions on oil exports and north korean labor. last month, president trump threatened to unleash fire and fury on north korea, and the u.s. has not ruled out a nuclear first-strike. in london, at least 22 people were left injured, some with serious burns after a homemade bomb exploded friday aboard a train atat a london underground subway station. video shared on social media showed flames pouring from what appears to be a white bucket inside a bag. most of those injured suffered flash buburns. othersrs were hurt whehen the bt

triggered a stampede. the british government says it's investigating the explosion as a terrorist incident. in iraq, suicide attackers fanned out across the southern city of nassiriya thursday, killing g at least 84 people and wounding neaearly 100 others ththe attack was c claed b by is and largelely targeted shihia muslims from iran on a pilgrimage to holy sites in najaf and karbala. this is firas ahmed, an eyewitness to some of the attacks. >> there were four buses of iranian pilgrims. the government boarded b buses d sprayed those inside with all its, while others in pickup trucks drove by firing at people. they walked into restaurants. they spared no one. all of thehe people who were here were killed. amy: in another attack, men in stolen army vehicles wearing military uniforms used a suicide car bomb to target a checkpoint. the violence comes after u.s.-backed kurdish and iraqi forces have seized much of

isis' territory in iraq, and after an iraqi intelligence reports found more than 40,000 civilians died in the u.s.-led battle to retake mosul from isis. president trump sent mixed messages thursday over whether he's reached a deal with democratic leaders on legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the u.s. as children. on wednesday, house minority leader nancy pelosi and senate democratic leader chuck schumer said they would agree to a deal with the president that would protect some 800,000 dreamers after trump ordered the cancellation of the dock immigration program. it on thursday, trump cast doubt .ver t the agreement pres. trump: we want to get massive border security and i think both nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, i think they agree with it. so we met last night with, as you know, schumer, pelosi, and a

whole group. i think we are fairly close, but we have to get massive border security. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: mitch is on board. paul ryan is on board. amy: house speaker paul ryan said their was no deal struck with trump and accused democrats of negotiating through the media. breitbart news, meanwhile, had a headline encouraging people to make america great again hats. arizona, the "phoenix new times" reports employees of the motel 6 chain shared the names of hotel guests with u.s. immigration and customs enforcement, leading to the arrests of at least 20 people. "the new times" reports at least a third of the arrests came after ice agents knocked on motel room doors without a search warrant and asking for permission to enter. a motel 6 spokesperson said the program was implemented at the local level without the knowledge of senior management, and promised the company would order managers at more than

1400 locations not to share guest lists with immigration authorities. the widow of an indian man who was murdered by a racist gunmen at a kansas bar last february has been denied a visa. her husband was working in the u.s. under the visa program. after his murder, his residency was terminated. she is in listing the house of commerce with kevin yoder who says immigration laws should be changed to protect ththe spouses of hate crime victims. in new york city, plainclothes ice agents arrested four undocumented immigrants at a brooklyn criminal court building thursday morning, in an unusual move targeting a courthouse for immigration enforcement. an ice spokesperson later confirmed the arrests, saying the four men were suspected of gang activity. ice policy prevents officers from making arrests at sensitive locations like schools,

hospitals, and places of worship without approval from supervisors. courthouses are not included on the list, but the practice is unusual and has been criticized by prosecutors, police and defense attorneys. this is katherine poor of the legal aid society. >> it makes people very scared when they hear things like this happening because they are told by the court that they have to thatn further court dates, is something their order to do. and if they don't, a warrant can be issued for their arrest. on the other hand, if people intothere is ice coming the courthouse, outside of the courthouse, and they have fear for their own immmmigration situation, that puts people in a very, very difficult position. amy: new york as a sanctuary city. president trump on thursday repeated his claim that both sides were to blame for violence at a rally of white supremacists in charlottesville, virginia , last month. the attacks injured dozens and left 32-year-old heather heyer the -- dead after

20-year-old nazi sympathizer james fields barreled his car into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters. trump's comments in the wake of the attacks, including a claim there were very fine people among far-right protesters, drew outrage, even from members of the republican party. on thursday, trump doubled down on his remarks as he spoke to reporters about wednesday's meeting with the senate's lone black republican, south carolina's tim scott -- or as the white house mislabeled him in a photo of their meeting --"tom scott." , trump was speaking to reporters aboard air force one. pres. trump: a great talk yesterday. i think especially in light of , if yount of antifa look at what is going on there, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side, also. essentially, that is what i said. now because what has happened look then with antifa, you at what has happened since chararlottesville, a lot of peoe are sayiying, in f fact, a lot f

people have actually written "gee, trump might actually have a point." amy: iran sanctions. critics warn president trump could move before an october 15 deadline to rule iran has breaeached the a agreement which would d meet a long-standing whe house goal of undermining the iran nuclear deal. in mexico, authorities say 2.5 millioion people are in need of aid as the death toll following last week's devastating 8.1-magnitude earthquake climbed to 98. in the town of juchitan, oaxaca alone, more than 5000 homes were destroyed, leaving residents with spotty electricity and no running water. on thursday, president trump drew fire for failing to contact mexican president enrique peña nieto in the wake of the earthquake and another disaster, hurricane katia. earlier this week, mexico withdraw its offer of assistance to victims of hurricane harvey

in texas. in the caribbean, authorities say they have evacuated all 1800 residents of barbuda to its sister island of antigua after hurricane irma's landfall on made barbuda uninhabitable. septembeber 6 barbuda's governmt says it's the first time the island has been uninhabited in 300 years. in the u.s. virgin i islands, governor kenneth mapp says the islands of st. john and st. thomas are still nearly entirely without power, and that irma destroyed schools and main hospital on st. thomas. officials warn the u.s. territory could be forced to declare bankruptcy under the process that congress crcreated last year for nearby puerto rico. we''ll have more on hurricane irma and the u.s. virgin islands later inin the b broadcast. in burma, amnesty international said thursday it has evidence the burmese military has directed a massive scorched-earth campaign against the minority muslim rohingyas, burning villages to the ground

and shooting people at random as they try to flee. amnenesty's rereport cited fire-detection data, satatellite imagery, photographs a and video from the ground.d. at the uniteted nations, o offis said thursday the number of rohingya whoho've fled to neighboring bangladesh has reached 400,000, warning as many as refugees could flee by year's one million end. this is rohingya activist zaw win maung, speaking at a protest outside the united nations here in new york. tought to have a resolution on this crisis. this crisis is not the regular small violence. this is genocide.. amy: iwashinington, d.d.c., senators are considering a resolution targeting burmese leader aung san suu kyi over her government's treatment of the rohingya. on thursday, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke out in opposition to the resolution. >> you publicly condemning suu kyi, the best of her democratic reform in parma, a simply not

constructive. unfounded criticism of suu kyi exaggerates her ability to command the military, which the burmese constitution does not actually allow her to do. amy: the senate resolution would call on burma to allow the u.n. unrestricted access to areas where massacres are occurring, while demanding burma grant citizenship and freedom of movement to the rohingya. in brazil, prosecutors brought fresh corruption charges against president michel temer and six associates thursday, accusing them of pocketing nearly $200 million in bribes and covering up their crimes. the charges will force a vote in brazil's lower house of congress on whether to put the president on trial at the supreme court. temer survived a similar vote in august, even though a secretly recorded tape captured him approving hush-money payoffs for a powerful politician jailed on corruption charges. in greece, authorities are struggling to contain a mounting ecological disaster after a tanker carrying 2500 tons of fuel sank off an island near

athens. by friday, thick tar and a heavy oil sheen covered beaches near the greek capital, fouling the waters and killing wildlife. authorities initially claimed they had sealed off a breach in the sunken ship, but later admitted the vessel was still leaking oil. harvard university has canceled an offer that would make army whistleblower chelsea manning a visiting fellow after cia director mike pompeo called manning and american traitor and canceled a planned appearance on harvard's campus. in response, chelsea manning tweeted -- "honored to be first disinvited trans woman visiting harvard fellow. they kill marginalized voices under cia pressure." to show himent is prosecuted manning under the espionage act after she revealed secrets of the u.s. state department and pentagon, including evidence of war crimes in support for u.s. allies committing torture to wikileaks.

and in north carolina, police in charlotte say they're enlisting the help of the fbi as they investigate the murder of derricka banner, a 26-year-old trans woman who was found shot to death in a car tuesday morning. police say they're not investigating the death as a hate crime, because a state statute omits sexual orientation and gender identity. banner is at least the 20th transgender person killed in the united states this year. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in florida, where authorities have obtained a search warrant to investigate the deaths of eight elderly residents at a nursing home in hollywood, florida, in the aftermath of hurricane irma. the victims range in age from 71 to 99 years old. they died in the rehabilitation center at hollywood hills after a transformer was knocked out following the hurricane, causing

the nursing home's air conditioning unit to shut down. beginning just this past tuesday night, temperatures began to soar inside the center. authorities say administrators of the nursing home wewere aware the air conditioning unit had failed, and that they installed fans and portable air coolers inside the facility. but the remedies did little to protect the residents from the sweltering heat. at 3:00 a.m. on wednesday morning, one nursing home resident was rushed to the emergency room across the street at memorial regional hospital, a level one trauma center just . an hour later, another elderly patient arrived. by 5:00 a.m., when thehe hospitl received a third rescue call, some hospital workers went down the street t to check on the nursing home. the found a situation so critical, the hospital sent in more than 50 medical workers under a mass casualty protocol.

at least three people were found dead. 158 more were evacuated, many with severe dehydration and other heat-related symptoms. this is hollywood police chief tomas sanchez. announcing a criminal investigation. >> this is very tragic. it is very said. many of us have loved ones in assisted living facililities and we expect that care to be theree for those people. we medially started a criminal investigation into this matter and major everyone was evacuated. we took control of the entire thereafter.ediately amy: new details about the nursing home emerged throughout the day thursday, adding the fact a number of safety violations had already been reported at the facility, including two violations about its backup power capabilities. this was before the storm. the main owner of the nursing home, dr. jack michel, also has a history of running afoul of healthcare regulators. in 2006, the justice department fined another hospital that michel runs, the larkin

community hospital, $15.4 million over civil fraud allegations. florida governor rick scott has now directed the agency for health care administration to terminate the nursing home as a medicaid provider. for more, we go directly to florida to speak with two guests. in fort lauderdale, we're joined by stephen hobbes, reporter for the sun sentinel who has been cocovering the story. and in miami is dale ewart. he is a vice president of 1199 seiu, the united health care workers union east. we welcome you both to democracy now! stephen hobbes, fill us in from the beginning. >> thank you for having me, amy. what happened it sounds like according to the reporting we have done so far is after the onrm hit in the afternoon sunday, the transformer -- there are two transformers that feed

power into the nursing home facility. the transformer that provides power for the air conditioning unit went out. the other transformer that provides power to the rest of the building kind of flickered, but remained on. so it was about sunday afternoon that the air conditioning went out. as it went on, administrators at the nursing home say they tried ,o contact utility officials florida power and light, and other officials in the state and in the county to let them know they needed power. as the days went on, they tried, as you mentioned, to use coolers and fans to try to cool down the residents. they say efforts were made on monday and tuesday, and they were told by utility officials that people would come out. that never happened. but as you mentioned as well, temperatures started to rise.

and when people were sent to the hospital on wednesday morning, hospital staff realized they had a real situation. that is something we are still trying to figure out, why the administrators were saying they never sounded the alarm saying we have incredibly serious event where people could die. then when hospital staff showed up on wednesday, they realized that they had a mass casualty event and that they needed to send in people immediately. amy: and this was after the first patient was brought in --d, then the second patient this is across the street, right? the nursing home is right across the street from a trauma one center? >> yes some it is right across the street. what happened, under sing officer from the hospital said yesterday that she was alerted. she was working in the command center for the hot total after

the hurricane. she was alerted by emergency room staff that three patients had been brought in with very high temperatures. so she went over because it was across the street and investigated herself. when she walked in, she said it was very warm up. she could not give an exact temperature, but she saw people in serious distress. people that were dehydrated and looks like there having respiratory problems. they said staff were frantically trying to bring people into areas that had fans to try to cool people down. she went in with fire and rescue officials, and they realize they had a very their situation. that is when the hospital started sending over wheelchairs and stretchers to get people out of that home. any governors and come says they can't florida power and light. florida power and light refused to speed up its response to

senior living facilities they say. they say the county never listed nursing homes as critical facilities in power outages. is this true? >> yes. the county said they did that because florida power and light's guidelines don't have nursing homes as google infrastructure facilities. -- as critical infrastructure facilities. there's a lot of pointing back and forth as maybe to who should have stepped in here. thathose are the arguments the sides are giving us to why something was not done earlier. amy: i want to bring dale ewart into the conversation. so often a catastrophe like this, a climate catastrophe in this case, lays bare the weaknesses of the system. and also shows us the importance of government and regulations. but how is it possible nursing homes, where the most vulnerable criticalnot considered

facilities in power outages? >> it really is a good question. .his is a tragedy it raises questions and concerns, not just about what happened and this particular situation, but how alderson comes in florida are regulated and whether we are going to require accountability and and whether nursing home owners like the owner of this particular facility that have a history of abuse, should even be allowed to operate health care facilities. certainly, things like putting them higher up on the fpl list and requiring facilities to have standby generators that would run air-conditioning systems would make a whole lot of sense in a place like florida. but there are broader questions about what we're willing to allow nursing homes to get away with and what kind of accountability we want to have

for the billions of dollars in public money that supports this industry. amy: you know, you have these two states that are so hard hit by this climate catastrophe, two hurricanes, irma and harvey. headed by climate change deniers. but for some reason, part and parcel of that, two states headed by those who hail their states as states where regulation will not get in the way, let's put it that way. i wanted to turn to texas to talk about an image that went viral during hurricane harvey. it was a picture of elderly residents at the la vita bella nursing home in dickinson , texas, sitting in waist deep water. they are in their wheelchairs. i think one woman is crocheting and the water is up to

their test. -- chests. 15 residents sat patiently awaiting rescue, which came shortly after the image was retweeted more than 2000 times. interestingly, the photo was taken by the owner of the facility who had reachched out r help. she sent it to her daughter in florida, whohose husband put it out on facebook, calling for help. some dismissed it and said, this has to be photoshop. dale ewart, can you talk about this case as well? thatam not familiar with particular case, but he started off by talking about the governors of both states being fans of deregulation, as is our regulation. it is funded by our tax dollars. 70% to 80% of the revenue that supports this industry is our money through medicaid and medicare. it is simply not appropriate to have an industry that is on t te

we shouldi would say question whether it is appropriate to have an industry that takes care of elderly people run by for-profit corporations, but if we are going to do that, then we have to have appropriate regulation to make sure staffing levels are sufficient to provide quality care and that nursing home operators are accountable for the money they receive and for standards of care. and that is a problem that -- that is the day-to-day, 365-day a year problem, not just in natural disasters like this. amy: can you talk more about nonprofit nursing homes and also what efforts t there are now to improve conditions in nursing homes? what political roadblocks deface? and talked about your perch at the union and why unions are significant here. ways, florida, a

force suchch, going inin the wrg direction. back in 2002, florida passed a series of nursing home reforms that among other things, created some of the highehest staffing enters and the nations for the nursing homes in florida. in the 10 years that followed the nursing home industry using its political connections, has rolled those back significantly. now, there are going to b be reforms in the way nursg homes are paid by medicaid, which will result in a transfer of money from high quality, high reimbursement or sing homes who are predominately the nonexclusively not-for-profit, precisely to the low-paying, low performing nursing home facilities. it is a real taking from the good actors and rewarding the bad actors. there are real serious concerns in the industry about what this

is going to mean for staffing levels, which are already in trouble. having a union is an important voice for health care workers. most of the hands-on care that is done in nursing homes is done by certified nursing assistant. and they tragically subsidize this industry through poverty poor health care and retirement benefits. it is a labor of love, but it is a crime that we ask our nursing home residents and nursing home caregivers to subsidize the activities of for-profit corporations. amy: i want to go back to stephen hobbes. the owner of the rehabilitation center at hohollywood hills in florida, dr. jack michel, the history of health care fraud and violations. in 2006, michel settled claims after he and five associates were accused of agreeing to send patients to the miami hospital he owned for unnecessary treatment according to the department of justice.

michel became president and ceo of larkin community hospital in 1998 and became sole owner in 2006. he settled the case the same year for $15.4 million. the facility was cited for federal code violations on at least two occasions for issues related to its generators. and according to the "miami herald," there's at least one pending lawsuit against the rehabilitation center alleging negligence, brought by a former reresident. stephen hobbs, this record, it's significance and what is happening now to these nursing home residents? >> well, it is obviously something that people e are looking atat very strongly now d just wondering, you know, with more scrutiny as to the status of the people in this facility. i think as we look into the record, we realize that there were issues in the past. they had rectified the generator issues.

a largerusly, it is issue in florida in that nursing homes are not required to have a backup generator to power them in a situation like this. hollywood, as you mentioned, they are trying to use search warrant. they're even going to -- they were either going to execute last night or today to try toto get more information. there is an ongoing criminal investigation as to what was happening in the facility. that is going to be that will continue. i was there yesterday as police had caution tape around the facility. their work police vehicles completely -- there were police vehicles completely around there, waiting to go inside to gather more information into their ininvestigation. amy: let me put this question tor. your governor, phil scott -- rick scott, is the former chief hca,tive of columbia

overseer of the largest medicare fraud of all time. history?alk about his >> yes. when the governor was head of what was then called columbia hca, he was, as you said, at the helm when that company was charged with medicare fraud. this is also -- florida is sort of ground zero for medicare fraud. there have been recent examples in the nursing home industry of medicare fraud. but again, for me, get back to the question of what kind of transparency are we going to insist on knowing who is owning and controlling and operating these facilities and what kind of accountability we're going to have to make sure quality of and thateing provided

we hold nursing home operators, health care providers to the highest standards of care. i think we do not do that effectively enough, and i am concerned with respect to funding of nursing homes in florida, where perhaps heading in the wrong direction. amy: very quickly. for people are watching this in this country and around the world, what should they be concerned about right now if they themselves are in a nursing home, if loved ones are in nursing homes? what should they be asking about? what kind of information do they need to demand to ensure their loved ones or they themselves are being treated well? -- i would recommend the medicare.gov website nursing home compare. it is a way of finding out ownership information, quality assessments.

you are able to compare nursing homes head-toto-head if your tun to choose. it is probably the single best resource right now for people who are concerned either about where a loved one is currently placed are looking to place a loved one in a nursing home to try to make the best decisions that you can. nursing home compare. amy:y: i want to thank you both for being with us will stop we will continue to follow this story. dale ewart is vice president of seiu 1199 based in florida, speaking to us from miami. and thank you to stephen hobbs, reporter for the sun sentinel. speaking to us from fort lauderdale. we will link to his articles at democracacynow.org. when we come back, the u.s. virgin islands. what has happened. we will talk about the avastation with th native of one of those islands, st. thomas. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: silvio rodriguez's again live here in new york last weekend. tos is more of his songs, go democracynow.org. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy gogoodman. turn now w to the u.s. virgin islands, where hurricane irma made landfall as a category five storm just over one week ago, knocking out electricity and running water, and cutting off communications with the outside world. now, eight days later, u.s. virgin island governor kenneth mapp s says the islands of st. john and st. t thomas are still nearly entirely without power. the hurricane also destroyed schools and main hospital on sr. -- on st. thomas. the devastation was so extensive, it can even be seen from space. satellite images show the u.s. and british virgin islands were green and lush before the storm, while the post-storm images show the islands are mostly brown after the hurricane uprooted nearly all the trees.

earlier this week, a u.s. militaryry amphibious shipip ard on st. thomas, ladened withh eqequipment and supplies ththe islands have also o receid emergencncy aid from resididentf the nearby island of puerto rico, where volunteers banded together to collect supplies and transport them on dozens of ships. but while hurricane irma hit the u.s. virgin islands days before it made landfall on the florida keys as a downgraded category 4 storm,m, the virgin islands have been largely forgotten in the wall-to-wall u.s. media coverage of the storm. and that omission is even more striking given that the u.s. virgin islands are in the midst of celebrating their centennial , 100 years, as a u.s. territory. well, our next guest, award-winning author tiphanie yanique, recalls how she learned about the widespread devastation on her home island of st. thomas, not from the scant u.s. media coverage, but from her

aunt cecile, who texted her in the days after the storm -- "the post office is gone. grocery stores gone. schools gone. hospitalal gone." in an op-ed for the "new york times" entitled "americans in a battered paradise," yanique goes on to write -- "as we have over the last 100 years, we ask again, with this storm: what kind of americans are we? are we part of a multi-tiered system of americanness? do the real americans know about this? are you, real americans, ok with this? it doesn't seem particularly american to me." well, for more, we're joined now by tiphanie yanique, award-winning poet and novelist from the u.s. virgin island of st. thomas. she's an associate professor in the english department at wesleyan university and the author of the poetry collection "wife" and the novel "island of love and drowning." we welcome you to democracy now! >> it is so good to be here.

amy:y: tell us about youour isl. tell us what has happened now, what you understand, and in the history of this island. most people don't even whichtand that -- countries or which islands are territories, which are u.s., which are dutch, which are french. can you explain? >> yes. the virgin islands is made up of both the british virgin islands and the u.s. virgin islands. we are st. thomas, saint court, and smaller surrounding. often we are confused with other "slets of the get with "saint like st. maarten. it is important nation really recognize who the americans are in the caribbean and pay us a little bit of extra attention. one of the things that happen for me when i was trying to find coverage about the virgin islands and my home, was that i

was single active things on television about the region. i was so pleased as someone who is from the caribbean region to see there was beginning to be some attention to the caribbean enmass. it is true the u.s. has a responsibility to ththe caribben as the most powerful economic force in the region. it is important we can attention to st. maarten and saint martine , which are dutch and french. it is important that we pay attention to the british islands . but lo and behold, we have american citizens in the region as well. these are not just american citizens who are visiting as tourists or american citizens who have newly moved to the cariribbean. but we have american citizens in the u.s. virgin islslands who we born american citizens, who are american citizens by virtue of having been born on american soil, the u.s. virgin islands. i was really quite remiss and saddened to see the news media said that irma had made landfall

in u.s. soil when it hit the florida keys, which in fact, it had made landfall on u.s. soil days before when it hit st. thomas and st. john in the u.s. virgin islands. amy: talk about your aunt ceclie , your family and st. thomas right now. >> luckily, many people on the island do have phone service, cell phone service is are parts of the island is possible. i have been able to be in touch with virgin islanders on the ground. whojust virgin islanders are evacuating, not just americanan citizens visiting w e new american citizens who are evacuating the island, but american citizens who are staying on the island and are working together to really build back the virginslands already. i have to say there has been an incredible amount of goodwill by private citizens in the virgin toands are working t together

bring things slowly baback. it is true the devastation is incredible. the devastation is unbelievable. not only the pictures we have been seeing online, but the word i have been getting frorom virgn islanders on the ground really demonstrate it is unbelievable devastation. that being said, there are grocery stores that are not opening and are -- that are opening and are selling fresh goods to virgin islanders. restaurants are selling hot burgers. sometimes giving them away for free as part of their service to the community. private citizens have been anding to clear the roads share clothing and food and water with each other. so if it -- so it is devastating, but people have been coming together. amy: puerto ricans are helping? >> puerto ricans are helping. and our neighbors from st. croix are helping. people are helping by not mailing things because our post office is destroyed, but

actually boating over goods. often, these are private cicitizens using their private resources to bring goods over from puerto rico and think roy. areder rico and st. croix american spaces. these are fellow americans in the caribbean supporting us and helping us out in st. thomas and st. john. amy: can you talk about the difference in age between what, for examplple, france is doing when it comes to st. maarten, and what the u.s. is doing when it comes to u.s. virgin islands, where britain is doing when it comes to the british virgin islands? honest, when i first 30 getting information about the caribbean being hit by irma, it was via the attention france was giving to its caribbean spaces and the attention that the british were giving to the caribbean holdings in the region

as well. it was impossible to find information about the u.s. virgin islands. the president of france is already on the ground in the caribbean right now. surveying the damage with his own eyes. a lot of this attention was happening before irma even hit. it is true since irma hit the virgin islands and eventually the florida keys and florida, by the time it hit the continent, it was downgraded to a category 4, or it hit the virgin islands as a category 5. many experts are saying is the worst hurricane to ever hit the region. now we are beginning to get attention and there have been great articles, what in the nation, and many others that are bringing attention to the virgin islands. but i was watching tom bossert's september 12 report about the hurricane hitting the caribbeann with close attention. and he, who is the white house's

national home secucurity advise, he spoke about the caribbean in very focused ways. person, i caribbean really appreciated. he talked about st. thomas and saint maarten and the kind of attention and were both getting from the u.s. but he want in the virgin islands with st. maarten as if they were similar and in exactly the same kind of spaces with the same sort of relationship to the united states. it felt to me as if he was saying, san diego and tijuana were both the by the same storm. it is true, st. maarten and st. thomas were hit by the same storm, but only one of those is u.s. soil. we did not get any sort of special attention from our fellow americacans. i think that is important a remember. virgin island people are americans. we're not only american citizens, but are -- our land is american soil and should be getting special attention.

amy: i want to ask about st. maarten, part of the leeward islands in the caribbean's eight, comprises two separate countries divided between its northern french side called st. maarten in the southern dutch side, saint martine. interestingly, president trump has a $17 million chateau on the french side of the island in a posh neighborhood. his mansion went unscathed. >> well, this hurricane has really demonstrated a difference between the haves and have-nots. i would say that is happening even in the virgin islands, even in the u.s. virgin islands, that homes where the families were prepared, had generators, they are showing electricity. homes,n there are whether it is public housing, in some cases had been entirely destroyed and those communities do not have running water. we are thing of being reflected

elsewhere as well. amy: i want to go back in history. is so significant, the centennial. i want to turn to in archival video clip of transfer day march 31, 1917 when the virgin islands were transferred from danish to american control. denmark sold these islands to the united states. are prepared to control. these are the only pictures. the danish officials come out to greet t e americanans. round out the geographical content of the united states. it is read by the american admirals.

slowly, the danish flag is lowered. amy: this is st.t. thomas, your home. the danish flag lowered, the american flag raised. why did it happen? >> well, the danish and the americans were in conversation for decades about trading the virgin islands as a space. there were many people in denmnmark who did not want to ge us up and there are many people in america who were not sure if it was the right move for the united states. it seems to me, historians say because of world war i and some other national security concerns that it mamade sense for thehe . in the some space caribbean. so we were bought in 1917. march 31 that bush in fact, my youngest son is also born on august 31. so thihis has national significance for me and cultural significance, but even personal significance. we became americans -- sort of

-- in 1917. we were not able to vote and tell 1970. zero.- when we could vote for our own legislative bodies, we still could not vote for national representation. in fact, right now in the virgin islands, we are american citizens and we carryry american passports, b but we do not have voting representation in congress. our congresswoman cannot vote in congress. we cannot vote for president of the united states, but we do pay federal taxes. amy: you are deeply concerned about reports of looting and how this was being conveyed in the media. can you talk quickly about that? >> yes. it makes sense that after a disaster of this magnitude -- and i do want to say that all the things are coming together, the disaster is seriously destructive. that the review some immediate

desperation. i think we can all agree there would be some immediate concerns. people who may be who weren't white prepared. however, the word i am getting from eyewitnesses on the ground from virgin islanders who are invested in the community andd arare on the ground in our shopping districts and shopping areas, they are saying that stores are beginning to open. people are going in with their money and buying things. restaurants are opening and selling drinks and selling food. arele are showing -- people sharing resources. this is not a scene of looting. these are not looting conditions and the virgin island. i have been disappointed by the national media coverage in this whord, even by journalists are now finally on the ground and virgin islands. it seems to me -- i want to because this. i don't is a the journalist have been irresponsible, but i do think that journalists could be doing a little more legwork to find for urgent island are's who

are part of the community and not only visitors to the island who are evacuating and leaving -- and in many cases, they're under stress and want to get back to their homes, which are on the continent of the united states. but that they -- the journalists look at what is happening on the ground by eyewitnesses. the media has said looting, with thes been people second and third and fourth hand. which what i'm getting, does not relay looting conditions at all. amy: in the multicultural, multicultural, decision? >> the virgin islands is a very unique part of the united states nation. for 100 years, we have been working as a multicultural, multiracial, multireligious system. my own graduating, my own senior graduating class of high school, less than 30 people was made up

of people whose heritage and in some cases parentage were from saudi arabia, france, india, nigeria, columbia. we were a group of people who were muslim, evangelical christian, catholic, hindu, atheist, agnostic. and this is less than 30 people in a group of graduating high school class. the virgin islands is a very unique place am a but it is also a place where the rest of the nation is really heading in this direction the weather we want to admit it or not as an american nation, we're becoming a place where diversity and inclusion is our reality. the virgin islands have been doing diversity and inclusion as americans for 100 years. amy: i want to thank you for being with us. i hope you'll come back so we can tatalk about your novel. tiphanie yanique is an award-winning poet and novelist from the u.s. virgin islands of st. thomas. hurricane irma.

she is a professor at wesleyan university and the author of the poetry collection "wife" and the novel "island of love and drowning." we will link to her recent op-ed the "new york times" is entitled "americans in a battered paradise." when w we come back, the fx of these hurricanes have been -- the effects of these hurricanes and the u.s.,ific but do not compare to south asia where 1300 people have died in nepal and india from the flooding. we will go to kathmandu, nepal. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: great died on wednesday after a battle with cancer. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn to now the devastating floods in south asia. more than 1300 people have died in bangladesh, india and nepal in recent months after the region was hit by the worst flooding in at least 40 years. the impact of the flooding is staggering. an estimated 40 million people were impacted. 1.5 million homes were destroyed.

30% to 40% of those killed were children. vast swaths of farmland has been destroyed. in bangladesh of the country was , one third under water. scientists have long warned -- we go to kathmandu where we're joined by david molden director general of the international centre for integrated mountain development . welcome to democracy now! can you describe what is happening in nepal? it sounds unspeakable. >> it is indeed staggering with the flood evevent that t happen. i i was in the plains of n nepa. nenepal is famousus forhe mountains, but connected to it is the vast plains that stretches from the mountains to the seas. it looked like the monsoon was failing. but on october 11, some massive rain shifts -- about 20 inches of raiain in 40 hours -- and the

flood started up in nepal. they moved into india and finally moved into bangladesh, inundating large areas of land, as you have just said. is this area, south asia, has about 40% of the world's poorest people. and most of those poor people live in that flood affected area. most of them are dependent on environmentand the for their livelihoods. the statistics, the loss of lives, the loss of houses, the rice fields, the animals -- or whole livelihoods are really damaged by this storm. it has been in an immense tragedy in the region. amy: can you talk about the connection between these floods and climate change, david? >> yeah. so this regionn is really a hot

spot for climate chahange. temperatures rise at higher elevations. if we are seeing a two degree world in the future as we hoped for, mib three degrees or four degrees of pie in the mountains. we see glaciers melting already due to climate change. what i really worry about are the effects on the monsoon patterns, which are hugely whattant for the region the climate science tells us, we're likely to see more extreme events, more floods and droughts in the future. so this event was caused by rainfall for sure. it is always hard to pin that event with climate change, but for sure in the future, we're bound to see more events like this and even worse due to climate change. so there is a direct link. now in addition to that,t, who bears ththe brunt of that climae

change? it is the poor people, as we saw on the most recent floods. those poor people are the ones who are really the ones who are -- who are not imaging the greenhouse gases into the world, but they are the want to have to bear the brunt. finally, it is a driver of human mobility, of migration from the region. attackssee all kinds of from this kind of flood event. amy: you're in nepal right now, but you have just come back from the united states. your thoughts on president trump , well-known climate change denier, proud time a change irma wass hurricane pummeling the caribbean heading to the u.s. last week in houston was under water, he was in north dakota in front of a refinery celebrating the fact he pulled the country out of the paris climate accord. >> that pulling out of the paris

climate accord is certainly bad news for our region. like i said, it it is already impacted by climate change. i feel very much we have a global responsibility to put in place to prepare for climate change and actions to actually slow it down. so what we do need is the world coming together and paris was doing that for us. people in the mountains were very much behind the paris accord. if there's any message, please, let's get back in the game. amy: the u.s., historically the greatest greenhouse gas emititters, ththe responsibibilu fefeel to where you are e in ne? >>es. ththe peop w whore emitttting greenhouse g gasses for imimpacg the weweather s system in nepal. so there is a shared responsibility to do something about that. amy: david molden, we will talk

again director general of the , international centre for integrated mountain development in kathmandu, nepal. juan gonzalez is speaking in austin tonight. happy birthday sam alcoff.