Hurricane Dean News & Info

[Islandman]

True, and on second thoughs it might have been the mans only cow and most valuable asset, so that was kinda harsh.

[Pepsi]

Brazil & Venezuelia supports jamaica ...

Brazil and Venezuela pledge to assist Jamaica with relief efforts
Sunday, 19 August 2007

Jamaica is already receiving pledges of assistance from international donors.


Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has announced that relief supplies are coming from Venezuela.

"The Government of Brazil and Venezuela has indicated to our foreign office through the ambassadors that both have decided that they will be sending relief supplies as soon as soon as it is possible and Jamaica indicates what would be necessary for our country at this time," said Mrs. Simpson Miller.

"Venezuela has established a hurricane watch centre to monitor the hurricane and will be sending supplies immediately afterwards if necessary. Brazil indicated that they have a relief aircraft standing by to send relief to Jamaica in the aftermath," she said.

[Mosiah]

I hung in there!

Nuff respect for the text message sent by Mexx. I know others wanted to call but just didn't get around to it!

Dean wasn't as scary as Ivan and certainly was no Gilbert. But we had our scary moments. At one point, some adjustments had to be made to some pieces of zinc on the roof. My neighbour was kind enuff to volunteer at a time when I really don't believe he should have gone up there.

By 11:00 pm it was all over and I slept straight thru to 5 am. Some rain fell in the morning but no biggy. Water even started trickling back into my pipes!

Later in the day, I went by some friends' house in Havendale. I ended up spending the rest of the day there clearing their 60ft mango tree that fell dead centre between their house and their neighbour's! Miraculous! I moved branches to sidewalk all day and had to stop. It will take at least another 8 hours to finish that job.

Some dramatic scenes here and there. A massive piece of metallic roofing either from a church or from Meadowbrook High School is probably still hanging from electricity wires and across the road, twisted like crushed paper. Trees are down here and there, but really it could have been much worse. JPS is even saying some places could start receiving light this evening. I hope my area is one of them.

I hope everyone's family is safe. And I understand another system is lurking. Just have to deal with it!

[Exile]

Well, you aboral ancestors would be proud of you.

[Karl]

Any update on how the efforts at returning the island to normalcy is coming on?

Telephone services?

Here I was surprised that I was able to keep calling my daughter and kept getting her throughout the night. Perhaps, nearer to first world than maudib thinks?

BTW - Where is he? Is he A-OK?

Water supplies?

Sewage systems?

Electricity?

The main roads and the feeder roads?

The airports?

Fire service?

Health services?

Schools?

..etc., etc?

[Mosiah]

Well, I now have light and water at home, although the water still seems a bit iffy. I have been taking in some helicopter views of the storm damage and some areas are very bad.

[Willi]

Imagine if it was a direct hit.

3 months minimum to get back a whiff of normalcy.

Yes, we suffered, but it could have been oh so much worse. people figget 1988 already.

Sigh

And yes, I am very sad for those who felt the brunt of it, as I know it was NOT a total escape.

[Karl]

Imagine if it was a direct hit.

3 months minimum to get back a whiff of normalcy.

Yes, we suffered, but it could have been oh so much worse. people figget 1988 already.

Sigh

And yes, I am very sad for those who felt the brunt of it, as I know it was NOT a total escape.

Wild Gilbert?
I rode that one out at 162 Tunbridge Drive....and, I thought we (Jamaica) came through quite well!

[Willi]

Quite well???

Yuh have a different definition from most people I know.

The aftermath of that storm was painful for months and months after.

I guess its like Canadian cold. You mind forgets how bad it is until you are next faced with it. Too painful to keep fresh.

Karl,

If we had gotten another Gilbert, as was threatened, Jamaica would be sucking salt now.

[Karl]

"Quite well"?!

The expectations were for 'a flat land' and 'untold deaths'. I think, all things considered, we endured well!

[Assasin]

you were in Kingston which was relatively untouched by Gilbert.

You wanted to go on the north coast to see the Gilbert devastation. I was working at Halfmoon on the swtichboard that day. I acutally closed down the hotel and afterh the Hurricane only about 10 rooms that was not damaged and mi nah talk bout leak. Some rooms had sand touching the ceiling and no back walls.

It was no fun travelling to Portland and Annotto Bay to go see if my grandparents them ok. The tourism industry took about a year to come back on stream after Gilbert.

My source in West Portland said Dean winds were very hard but it seems like it was low and not as wild as Gilbert although East Portland took a beating as it and St.Thomas is the first piece of land it hit. Not too much damage in West Portland or South East St.Mary execpt the Banana and crops but this time it is on the southern coast.

[Islandman]

I was living in St Thomas during Gilbert, about 200 meters from the beach.

Will never forget that night when the sea sounded like it was right on the doorstep, and then later on in the morning running from my house with family , only to look back and see the roof airborne and on its way to a neighbors backyard.

I have maximum respect the forces of nature since that experience. As humans we tend to rate ourselves as more important than we really are in the grand scheme of the universe, Episodes like hurricanes,earthquakes and tsunamis humble us quickly.

[Karl]

ODPEM confirms 'Dean' claimed four

Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) confirms 'Dean' claimed four

published: Thursday | August 23, 2007


The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has confirmed that four persons were killed as a result of injuries related to the passage of Hurricane Dean.

In a release yesterday, the disaster management agency gave the official death toll in the wake of the hurricane, which lashed the island three days earlier.

Aerial reconnaissances
ODPEM said that, within 12 hours of the impact of Hurricane Dean, two rapid aerial reconnaissances were undertaken primarily along the southern parishes of the island.

"These flights covered the parishes of St. Catherine to Westmoreland and Kingston & St. Andrew to Portland and St. Mary," the ODPEM said. "From the aerial reconnaissance five areas have been identified as being severely damaged."

Those areas are Portland Cottage and Rocky Point in Clarendon; Old Harbour Bay in St Catherine; as well as Caribbean Terrace and Bull Bay in Kingston & St. Andrew.

An initial assessment revealed that, in the above communities, just fewer than 1,600 houses sustained level one to level four damage (minor damage to destroyed). The majority of the damage was concentrated in Clarendon, which recorded 56 per cent of the damage, followed by St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew with 30 per cent and 14 per cent,respectively.

"Generally, observation of overall damage in these areas was restricted to fallen trees, fallen utility poles and utility lines and lack of water supply," the ODPEM said. "The assessment process is ongoing and the figures are expected to increase as data becomes available."

Actions to be taken
The ODPEM said it had identified actions to be taken, including continuation of damage assessment activities; food drops to cut-off communities of Westphalia, Hagley Gap, Penlyne Castle and Halls Delight; continued attempts to re-establish communication links with affected parishes; servicing ofshelters with water by NWC; arrangement of relief distribution for affected communities in St. Thomas; relief distribution for shelters which remain open; and the establishing of water distribution stations in affected communities.

Confirmed deaths
In St. Andrew, a 34-year-old male was electrocuted while trimming tree limbs.
In Clarendon, a 44-year-old farmer was found dead in the ruins of his home.
In St. Thomas, a 15-year-old female was critically injured by concrete block, which fell through her roof. In St. Elizabeth, a 48-year-old female succumbed to injuries received from flying debris.

[Karl]

Hurricane Dean: damage and blessings

Hurricane Dean: damage and blessings
published: Thursday | August 23, 2007



Martin Henry

There she was flapping in the wind on a clear, bright, and hot, post-'Dean' morning. The green, black and gold on a hurricane-bent, waiting-to-be-photographed flagpole. Survivor in the front yard of a private preparatory school. Flag flying over recovery work buzzing everywhere. The original (and for me, everlasting) meaning of the flag surviving the battering of yet another hurricane: 'hardships there are, but the land is green and the sun shineth'.

The whole family, thankfully all at home together, and our two dogs, Patches and Nebuchadnezzar, emerged from our hurricane bunker to share warm neighbourly kindness. Disasters pull people together. Phones were busy throughout the big blow and people spilled out of their houses at first light on Monday morning to trade stories and offer help. We are grateful that the phone services held up against 'Dean'.

Our hearts go out to all those who have suffered serious property damage, to those in shelters and to the families of the few who have lost their lives. We are particularly touched by the death of the young girl from a falling concrete block in White Horses in St Thomas, the parish which bore the brunt of the hurricane.

There are mixed feelings about the use of blocks on roofs. There is little doubt that they do help to hold zinc sheeting in place in high winds. But should the roof go, the blocks can fall down as deadly missiles.

To evacuate or not
Using them is a calculated risk; like deciding to evacuate ornot to evacuate. People are torn between safety of person and security or property. There was substantial looting of unoccupied premises during the passage of the hurricane. There is no way that 8,000 police and a fewer number of soldiers can secure property against determined looters in the nooks and crannies of Jamaica, as the Prime Minister promised in her plea for evacuation.

For a number of reasons, deaths in hurricanes have been dramatically reduced: 45 in 'Gilbert', 17 in 'Ivan', fewer than five in 'Dean'. In 1933 at this same time of year, August 14/15, flooding in Kingston and St. Andrew alone, from sustained rain without a hurricane, took 53 lives. Hurricane Charlie passed on August 17, 1951, leaving many dead across the island. The busiest months of the annual hurricane season are September and October. Better warning, better preparations, and better disaster management, and also, definitely, better building practices, especially after the roofing disaster of 'Gilbert', have led to less damage and fewer deaths in hurricanes.

Private enterprise
Citizens' private enterprise has done more for reopening roads, taking care of those in need and for the rehabilitation process than Government action ever could. And that's the way it ought to be: Community enterprise and business free enterprise getting things done.

One of the things which the annual handbook of Jamaica, which was published from the 1880s to the 1970s, dutifully recorded was the passage of hurricanes affecting Jamaica, sometimes more than one in a year.
God bless the chainsaw men, and machete men who as soon as the wind and rain subsided, got busy cutting roads open in their neighbourhood.

Someone told me that a mutual acquaintance had lost her roof, "but about 40 men are there putting it on back!" Never mind the count! That is the spirit across Jamaica.

It was a joy to see the maintenance and ancillary staff at the University of Technology busily working to restore the campus. Some of them had suffered damage athome, but they were cheerfully on the job, as were security guards. Against the odds, a canvass banner welcoming new and returning students survived the wind. But students and most staff won't see it for a few more days.

Hurricane Dean has brought destruction, but apparently not on the wide scale of 'Ivan'. But the hurricane has also brought restoration and rest, darkness to night, quietness, and time for reflection and counting our many blessings. And, for good or for ill, a postponement of the elections.


Martin Henry is a communication specialist.

[Karl]

Gleaner EDITORIAL - A devastating blow to the agriculture

EDITORIAL - A devastating blow to the agriculture sector
published: Thursday | August 23, 2007



Early assessment from the damage caused by Hurricane Dean indicates that the country's agriculture sector was particularly hard hit. According to Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke, even though only a preliminary assessment has been done so far, banana, coffee and vegetable production seem worst affected. Export banana production has been all but destroyed, and major vegetable growing areas of southern St. Elizabeth suffered major dislocation.

The full impact of this devastation goes beyond the immediate destruction of crops and the loss of local and overseas markets. The medium-term livelihoods of small farmers and vendors will be affected as well. It will also take time to replant and replace infrastructure to allow the sector to get back to the place where it was recording a recovery from the declines of the recent past. In the interim there will be an exacerbation of the difficulties some growers were already experiencing.

Unfortunately, too, while it is relatively easier to mitigate damage to housing stock and commercial buildings by installing certain protective equipment, farm crops are left almost entirely to the mercies of the elements. The Agriculture Minister yesterday pointed to the increasing difficulty in obtaining crop insurance, given the reluctance of reinsurers to do business with the Caribbean. The apparent increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes in recent years have only made this worse. In fact, in the past two decades we have seen the devastating impact of hurricanes Gilbert in 1988, Hugo in 1989, Luis and Marilyn in 1995, Mitch and Georges in 1998 and Lenny in 1999, and more recently Ivan 2004, Emily 2005 and Dean this past weekend - all causing major crop and job losses.

At yesterday's press conference, Mr. Clarke noted that a Catastrophe Fund established by his ministry for banana is "too young" to respond to this disaster. This is an important initiative but it is equally imperative that farmers be encouraged to work through their representative organisations to seek ways to recover damages from a disaster, rather than expecting that the Government will be there as a matter of course to render compensation assistance.

The minister is right that more and more farmers have to consider insurance as part of the legitimate cost of doing business many will argue that they cannot afford this without a consequential spike in prices to consumers.

We do well, too, to revisit a suggestion made two years ago by Dr. Wendel Parham in his capacity as executive director of the Caribbean Agriculture and Research Development Institute, for the implementation of an action plan to protect Caribbean food systems. He suggested then that given the region's increased vulnerability to natural disasters because of the effects of climate change, and the threat this places on agricultural production and food security, there should be research focusing on the development of high temperature resistant and high temperature preference varieties; gene banks to preserve diversity; seed banks to restart agricultural production after disasters; and ways to increase shelf life. These proposals should be seen as practical proactive ways of reducing the impact of the vagaries of the weather on our agriculture sector.

In the meantime, regional officials who have long talked about the need to pool resources to respond to natural disasters have to move beyond talk into action.

But these concerns notwithstanding, we can reflect on the fact that we have travelled this road before, and have bounced back, and can do so again.



The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.