Earthquake to Economic Crisis

Screaming and sobbing flood the air but you can’t quite hear it over the sound of your own breathing. Everything seems to be moving dichotomic to your rapid heartbeat. You watch in slow motion as people get pulled from rubble. Some contribute to the noises around you, others stay silent. The stone streets you used to walk now are no longer nicely paved. Instead, they resemble the fragmentation that now grips the country. But you’re one of the lucky ones. Although your house didn’t make it you can at least say you’re alive which is a lot more than others can. That’s more than can be said for the bodies they keep pulling from the rubble and cover in tarps. Now flash forward 17 years. You and your family are back on their feet. You have a new house. Its much smaller and much more rundown than the last, but you make due. Your brother is over in America under Temporary Protection Status. He has a job out there and sends money back with every paycheck he gets. That’s how you can afford the new house and to still put food on the table. Another letter comes in from your brother. It says he might be coming home. Not by his choice, but because he’s being kicked out of the country. He mentions how he might try and make it to Canada or maybe he can try and stay there after the TPS expires. Both would be illegal, but what’s the choice? He says he if he comes back you all most likely won’t e able to afford the basic necessities. You’re scared for what’s going to happen.

If the 200,000 El Salvadorians that went to the United States can no longer stay what does that mean for El Salvador’s economy?  One of the only reasons El Salvador’s economy is still functioning is because of the money being sent back from the US to the families there. With the Trump administration ending the Temporary Protection Status from El Salvadorans seeking refuge here in the US many of them are weighing options of what to do now. When the money being sent back from these refugees stops, there is a possibility that we will see an economic crisis start coming out of El Salvador since a lot of their economy revolved around this stream of money. What’s worse is that this economic strain might not just be isolated to El Salvador. Even though the Trump administration said that El Salvador is infrastructurally stable again, many believe it is still struggling to get bounce back from the earthquake. Many of the refugees are trying to find other options. This includes trying to gain asylum in Canada or even crossing the boarder illegally. Canada already is having pressure put on their economy because of granting asylum to Haitian refugees. Now, potentially thousands more might be coming over and putting even more pressure on their economy. This roll back of the TPS was met with pleads from El Salvadorians as well as the El Salvadorian government. Even Canada is bracing itself for the influx of people that are bound to come.

An economic crisis in a country that is still very unstable would mean a lot more bad news for those citizens. The people who are still trying to rebuild their lives after the 2001 earthquake are going to be facing a lot more problems such as hyperinflation, violence, and starvation. In Canada this could mean decreases in the value of Canadian currency, inflation, and possible recession. If the worst does happen for both of these countries, it will be a problem for a lot of other countries. Since we all technically contribute to the global economy, a large fall in both Canada and El Salvador can have rippling effects for other countries that engage with them in trade and pacts. This includes the United States. Now, it we won’t see the same level as in Canada, but there will still be problems seen here because of this. Everything is connected and a major change like the migration, both legally and illegally, of 200,000 people has the potential to skew the balance.