Story highlights Jill Filipovic: The United States has used the Caribbean Islands as tourist playgrounds and disproportionately fueled climate change that contributed to the recent hurricanes

Anyone who has gone on a Caribbean vacation should be pressuring the US government to offer further assistance, and donating to the relief efforts, she writes

Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the book "The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness." Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) As yet another hurricane descends into the Caribbean, vulnerable and often tourism-dependent nations are again being badly battered. Wednesday morning, Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico with 155-mph winds after devastating Dominica and other islands. After the physical impact, it will take years to rebuild; the long-term economic consequences will be even more devastating, if less obvious to the casual observer. As the destruction unfolds, the United States has a responsibility to help.

Jill Filipovic

Maria is the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico in 85 years, and the storm is fierce enough that it broke two National Weather Service radars there. Some tourists are stranded in Puerto Rico as well.

I mention the tourists in part because, for many Americans, "the Caribbean" evokes images of pristine beaches, turquoise waters, and well-tended resorts. For others, the Caribbean is home (or home to grandparents or extended relatives). But as that second group knows better, real life in the Caribbean -- not vacation -- is not quite as carefree as a day at the beach. More than one in five people live in poverty. In Dominica, which Hurricane Maria left in ruins , nearly 30% of the population is poor

While poverty rates have dropped across the Caribbean, many islands remain poor; even the many that have been doing better in recent years are still struggling to recover from the economic downturn a decade ago, and remain dependent on tourist dollars to keep their economic engines churning. For the nations hit hardest by the recent hurricanes, that revenue stream has now tanked, while more resources are suddenly in great demand.

It's time for the United States to step in. American companies have long extracted valuable resources from Latin America and the Caribbean, while our government has meddled in their politics , often keeping fragile nations destabilized and poor.

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