Caribbean Braces for Hurricane Season

[AussieMark]

Caribbean Braces for Hurricane Season

By STEVENSON JACOBS, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jun 2, 3:04 AM ET

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada - Simeon Simon gazes up at the mist-shrouded mountains of Grenada's lush interior in one direction and out toward the emerald-blue sea in another — all from the middle of his kitchen.

The 60-year-old mason lost his zinc roof when Hurricane Ivan slammed into the tiny island in September. Slowed by a shortage of building materials and job commitments, he's racing to put up something stronger in time for the 2005 hurricane season, which officially began Wednesday.

Still battered from an onslaught of catastrophic storms last year, Caribbean countries are bracing for another hurricane season that experts warn could bring more trouble to a region made vulnerable by lingering damage, poverty and environmental decay.

The trail of destruction is most visible in hard-hit Grenada, where many children are taught in classrooms topped by plastic blue tarps, huge piles of discarded zinc roof tiles sit outside the wrecked national stadium and once vibrant nutmeg fields lay fallow.

"A lot of us (haven't) rebuilt yet and the season's already here," Simon said, as workers slid steel reinforcing rods into new rafters atop his small home outside the capital of St. George's. "We saw what Ivan did so we don't want it to be as easy next time."

Forecasters predict up to 15 Atlantic tropical storms this year, including three to five major hurricanes.

Jittery islanders got an early scare late last month when a rare Pacific hurricane hit Central America and moved into the Caribbean before fizzling into a tropical depression.

"You can feel a kind of tension building," said Sylvan McIntyre, head of the National Emergency Relief Organization of Grenada, where Ivan damaged or destroyed 90 percent of buildings, killed 39 people and wiped out the vital nutmeg crop. "People don't want to have that experience again."

In the Cayman Islands, where Ivan destroyed 70 percent of buildings on Grand Cayman, anger over the slow rebuilding process was seen as a factor in the government's electoral defeat last month. More than half of hotels remain closed and mounds of debris dot streets in the offshore banking haven.

"We just didn't have any strong planning for recovery," said Donovan Ebanks, the head of the British territory's National Hurricane Committee.

Four major hurricanes — Ivan, Jeanne, Francis and Charley — plowed through the region last year, causing an estimated $7 billion in damage, mostly in Grenada, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Cuba and the Bahamas.

In Haiti, floods killed at least 1,900 people when Jeanne struck as a tropical storm. With more than 98 percent of its forest gone, Haiti has no topsoil to hold rains.

More than 100 people died elsewhere in the Caribbean.

In Grenada, only 170 of 10,000 destroyed homes have been rebuilt. The destruction of buildings left the island with about a third of the storm shelters it had before Ivan, said Richardson Andrews, head of Grenada's Agency for Reconstruction and Development. He blamed the delay on shortages of imported building supplies and laborers.

"We know a lot of people are going to be exposed with partially done roofs or no roof at all," Andrews said. "That's why the best thing is for us not to have another hurricane."

Tourists have yet to return in large numbers even though 60 percent of hotels have reopened. But with last year's storm lessons fresh in mind, islands are rushing to mitigate the damage of future storms.

"Prepare for Disaster, Recover Faster," reads the 2005 slogan for Jamaica's emergency office. Workers are clearing drainage ditches of garbage to prevent the flooding that came after Ivan brushed Jamaica's south coast, destroying 8,000 homes and killing 17 people.

But the International Monetary Fund warns more needs to be done, urging international donors to pledge more aid.

Only a quarter of $150 million in aid pledged to Grenada has been disbursed, mostly from the United States, the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, Andrews said.

"I just don't see how the country makes it through if those pledges don't come in," said Prakash Loungani, IMF mission chief for Grenada.

[abajan]

One of our local reporters recently chatted with Professor Gray and he practically guaranteed that the Eastern Caribbean chain of islands would be struck by at least 2 storms this year. Gray is not one to state such things unless he's pretty darn sure!

[cycloneye]

One of our local reporters recently chatted with Professor Gray and he practically guaranteed that the Eastern Caribbean chain of islands would be struck by at least 2 storms this year. Gray is not one to state such things unless he's pretty darn sure!

Wow indeed very interesting comments by Dr Gray there.Here in Puerto Rico the goverment is preparing early by having meetings,mall workshops,Drills and other events.Hopefully nothing threats Puerto Rico nor any of the islands this season.

[msbee]

wow, abajan, that's quite a statement!
scary stuff!
Hopefully we all will be safe!
our governemnt is preparing also:

News Release



Written by Roddy Heyliger, Communications Consultant for the Government Information Service (GIS), Dept. Head Erno Labega, Ennia Bldg., Longwall Rd., Philipsburg, St. Maarten D.W.I. Tel. 00-599-543-1162, 542-4119, Fax: 543-1169; Email: gis AT sintmaarten.net; Website: http://www.sintmaarten.net/gis



For Immediate Release: Tuesday, May 31, 2004/N054



Governor calls on nation to prepare for active 2005 Hurricane Season



GREAT BAY, St. Maarten (GIS) ? Governor Franklyn Richards, Chairman of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), is calling on the St. Maarten nation to prepare for an active 2005 Hurricane Season which officially starts June 01 and runs until November 30.

History teaches us that a lack of awareness and preparation are common issues among major hurricane disasters. By knowing your vulnerabilities and what actions we should take, we can reduce the effects of a hurricane disaster on our self, family and our community.

The Office of Disaster Management in conjunction with the Government Information Service (GIS) as is customary will execute a hurricane awareness campaign for this season. I am calling on residents and persons who recently have made St. Maarten their home to take stock and prepare now, Governor Richards said on Tuesday afternoon.


The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) mid-May issued its 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook which calls for another above normal season. The NOAA called for 12-15 named tropical storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, of which three to five could become major hurricanes with winds of more than 111 miles per hour.


Professor William Gray?s latest revised forecast as of May 31 is in line with what the NOAA is forecasting, 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.


Office of Disaster Management & Preparedness Coordinator and Fire Commander Winston Salomon, says we are ready with respect to the Island's Disaster Management System preparedness level should a hurricane strike.


Are you ready? This is the theme of the Office of Disaster Management for the 2005 Hurricane Season. Residents should review their home protection and disaster plans to make sure that everything is in place.

The public is strongly advised to begin implementing their own hurricane protection plans by making sure their disaster hurricane kits are fully stocked; hurricane shutters are in good working order; and yards are cleaned of any possible flying debris,? Commander Salomon told the Government Information Service (GIS) on Tuesday.

As a community, we should ask ourselves the question, are we ready? Do we have all the necessary preparations in place before the height of the hurricane season in August? If not, let us start making preparations from now! Don?t wait for the last minute to start preparing. On June 1, the opening of the hurricane season, ask yourself if you're ready, EOC Chairman Governor Richards said on Tuesday.

Fourteen buildings throughout the island have been designated as Hurricane Shelters. These are, John Larmonie Center , Philipsburg; Senior Citizens' Recreational Centre - Hope Estate; New Testament Baptist Chruch , Philipsburg; Dutch Quarter Community Centre - Dutch Quarter; Christian Fellowship Church - Wellfare Road - Cole Bay; Raoul Illidge Sports Complex - Cay Hill; Salvation Army Building - Union Road - Cole Bay; Allan Halley Community Centre - Simpson Bay; Leonard Connor School - Windsor - Cay Bay; Leopold Bell School - Union Road - Cole Bay; Genevieve de Weever School - Hope Estate; Sr. Marie Laurence School - Middle Region; Milton Peters College - South Reward; Hillside Christian School - St. Peters.

On Tuesday afternoon in the office of Governor Richards, a joint project of the Office of Disaster Management, the GIS and St. Maarten Harbour Holding Company (SHHC) entailing a hurricane tracking chart with pertinent information, was presented to the Governor by Disaster Coordinator/Fire Commander Winston Salomon. Also present were GIS Interim Department Head Marsha Beauperthuy and SHHC Managing Director Mark Mingo.


Comments made during the presentation on Tuesday afternoon are as follows:

Winston Salomon: This is the first time that the Office of Disaster Management in a joint effort with the GIS and SHHC has developed a Hurricane Tracking Chart for the St. Maarten community. The objective is to bring about awareness within the community. Not everyone has a computer, and this tracking chart will be an invaluable tool for the season. Shortly we will announce where it will be available. We also intend to have it distributed via the schools as well, Salomon stated.



Governor Richards: It?s a good idea and a good tool to make us aware. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our corporate sponsor SHHC Managing Director Mark Mingo for a playing a role in this project, Governor Richards said.



SHHC Mingo: Last year we also published a hurricane tracking chart, but this time we decided to work together with the Office of Disaster Management and the GIS on this project. This demonstrates how the corporate community can work together with government departments on different types of projects entailing creating awareness within out community, Mingo stated.


Roddy Heyliger

St. Maarten Government Information Service (GIS)


Roddy Heyliger
Managing Director - MedPRO
Communications Consultant
Information Management & Application

[Brent]

It's been awhile for the Northeastern Caribbean... Got lucky with Frances.

Remember back in the Mid to Late 90's? Luis, Marilyn, Georges, Lenny?(Probably others)

[cycloneye]

It's been awhile for the Northeastern Caribbean... Got lucky with Frances.

Remember back in the Mid to Late 90's? Luis, Marilyn, Georges, Lenny?(Probably others)

Jeanne made landfall in Puerto Rico in 2004 although not a hurricane a strong Tropical Storm (70 mph).

[Brent]

It's been awhile for the Northeastern Caribbean... Got lucky with Frances.

Remember back in the Mid to Late 90's? Luis, Marilyn, Georges, Lenny?(Probably others)

Jeanne made landfall in Puerto Rico in 2004 although not a hurricane a strong Tropical Storm (70 mph).

Oh yeah... Ivan was bearing down on the coast so it didn't get much attention.

Still, I really was only counting Hurricanes of over 100+ mph winds.

[Derek Ortt]

one CANNOT predict where storms are going to move; thus, it is impossible to know whether or not the islands will be impacted at all this year.

Last year they had 3 (Earl, Ivan, Jeanne... 4 if you count Charley as a TD)

[AussieMark]

U.N. warns Caribbean ill-prepared for hurricanes

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - Tropical storms and hurricanes killed thousands in Caribbean nations last year, and could claim more lives this year because the region is not prepared to cope with the deadly natural disasters, U.N. special relief coordinator Jan Egeland said on Wednesday.

Climate changes have doubled the number of hurricanes in the last 15 years, Egeland said, and poorer countries such as Haiti, Grenada and Guyana are not prepared for new disasters, while others are improvising.

"I've warned the world it is not going to get better, it is going to become worse. We owe it to the people to prepare them," he told reporters during a disaster preparedness workshop.

Egeland criticized the United States and Europe for giving too little funding to help set up national disaster prevention plans in one of the most disaster-prone areas of the world.

"It is totally unacceptable that thousands of people die every year in this region and we have an enormous development setback every year," he said.

Last year, 5,000 Haitians died in floods, and Grenada was devastated by Hurricane Ivan.

But the United Nations received just one third of the $37 million it requested for relief in Haiti, and only 14 percent of funds needed for Grenada, Egeland said.

Ivan damaged 90 percent of Grenada's housing and caused $2.2 billion in destruction, more than double the small island's annual economic output, a Grenada official said.

"It will take 10 years to recover fully," Grenada's National Disaster Coordinator, Silvan McIntyre, said.

He said Ivan had overwhelmed Grenada's disaster prevention system, which must be rebuilt from scratch.

"We are still recovering from a disaster and we are having to prepare to respond to another. It puts us in a very challenging situation," he said.

The workshop was organized by the U.N. Development Program and the Association of Caribbean States, and hosted by the Cuban government.

Cuba has reduced hurricane deaths to a minimum through mandatory evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people by the island's Communist authorities when storms approach.

Egeland said the Cuban model was not entirely applicable to other countries. "The Cuban case is special in many ways, but we believe evacuation is the right thing, as they do in Florida," he said.

For example, Jamaicans often disobey evacuation orders because they fear looting, Egeland said.

Andria Grosvenor, project manager for the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, said other nations could learn from Cuba's public information policies. "All Cubans know what to do and where to go when there is a threat," she said.