Why couldn the residents just move away after the toxic coal ash was dumped?
The per capita gross domestic product for the Dominican Republic is just $4,200—less than 1/10th of the United States’ $45,047 according to 2007 United Nations statistics—and Samana residents’ income is believed to be below the Dominican Republic average. After being reassured by AES that the coal ash dumped on their beach was safe and then developing acute health responses such as skin lesions and respiratory ailments, the residents of Arroyo Barril, many of whom do not even have electricity were not able to simply pick up and move. The small homes on the island are, for the most part, open to such a degree that the airborne toxic coal ash got into everything after it was dumped illegally in 2003 and 2004. How are the parents, neighbors and others in Arroyo Barril and the Dominican Republic dealing with the children who survived with severe deformities? How are they coping with the deaths of children born severely deformed? Some families have never gotten over the total shock they fac
