Between Emergency Aid and Social Care

Managing the Virgin Islands Hurricane in St. Croix, 1916

Abstract

This is a study of how the so-called Virgin Islands Hurricane hit the island of St. Croix in the former Danish colony known as the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) on October 9–10, 1916. The hurricane killed twenty people and caused massive material destruction, while also having considerable social and economic ramifications. This hurricane arguably caused the largest natural disaster in 20th-century Denmark.

The study is a quantitative and topographical analysis of 1,568 applications from the citizens of St. Croix for assistance to repair hurricane damage. The hurricane is found to be a revelatory crisis illuminating the extent or lack of a social safety net in the colony. The applications offer an insight as to how the hurricane impacted the different social layers on the island. In addition to reports of material damage in the applications, the paper also investigates how grants and loans were distributed unevenly across social groups through deliberate government prioritization.

This study addresses the colonial society of the Danish West Indies at a time of multiple labor revolts and significant social tensions. These problems go back to the era of slavery – before the emancipation in 1848. Interest in the colony from the Danish government and society at large later declined. However, in the fall of 1916, there was a surging renewed interest in the colonies with campaigns leading up to a referendum as to whether Denmark should sell the colonies to the United States, which it eventually did.