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 Editorials | Environmental | May 2007 
From Mexico to Panama Officials Prepare For Hurricane Season
 Franz Smets - dpa German Press Agency
Mexico City- Nature never abides by human planning, but that has not stopped officials and Mexico and across the Caribbean from charting a course ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season that begins Friday. US weather officials have said up to 17 named storms, including hurricanes, could appear across the Atlantic and Caribbean through November. Three to five of those storms could become major hurricanes.
But despite the predictions, the extent of the season over the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico is questionable.
Last year forecasters' gloomy omens turned out to be mistaken. After Emily and Wilma blasted the Mexican coast in 2005 and Hurricane Katrina pummelled the US Gulf Coast, the sky over the Caribbean granted a quiet 2006, allowing people to recover.
Mexico's Caribbean coast, which has repaired all the damage caused by Wilma in October 2005, is all set for a new season. Some of the area's famous white sand has returned to the beaches at the feet of luxury resorts. Old hotels have been renovated or rebuilt, and new ones built.
"We have evaluated the hurricane-safety of all hotels and granted certificates as to their ability to hold guests up to what hurricane category," said Gabriela Margarita Rodriguez Galvez, tourism minister of the state of Quintana Roo. "If it comes to it, we will dictate when a hotel has to be evacuated."
"We have learned the lesson from Wilma," Cancun's Mayor Francisco Alor said.
Hurricane Wilma, which hovered over the region for 60 hours, hurled violent rains over the resort area and flooded large parts of the tourist haven Cancun, a city of 800,000 people. But not a single tourist died.
In Cancun, traffic-light masts have been strengthened so much that they can now withstand storms with wind speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour. Many hotels feature assembly rooms made of concrete, equipped with food and drinking water in case of an emergency. Rooms' drawers contain evacuation plans, just in case.
Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, also prepared for this year's storm season with exercises. In the Cuban variant of hurricane precautions, streets are to be cleaned, windows and doors bolted, flood-prone areas evacuated and electric power cut, until everything is over.
The country held a drill with hundreds of thousands of participants. Cuban authorities have said they expect an intensive season this year, due to global warming.
In Nicaragua, the army and civil protection units have intensified measures to take care of the population. In the capital, Managua, 500 specialists stand ready to be mobilized, authorities said.
In rural areas on the country's Caribbean and Pacific coasts units are being trained to help the population in case of a catastrophe. Modern meteorological stations have been established with funds from the European Union to improve weather prediction in the region.
In other Central American countries - which like Mexico have to fear hurricanes on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts - preparations promising success seem more like wishful thinking. In Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala hundreds of people died in late 2005 in floods and landslides.
That could happen again this year, if there are similarly strong rains. The poor in these countries are particularly vulnerable, since many of them have built their homes in dangerous areas.
The civil protection agency Copeco in Honduras said its precautionary measures cannot be implemented due to a lack of funds.
In the country's capital, Tegucigalpa, 30 per cent of the people live on hillsides that could be washed away by heavy rains. Those residents should be relocated to safer areas, Copeco said, but that has not happened.
Belize, in turn, has started to erect houses in low-lying areas above ground level.
"We hope that a monster like Wilma never happens again," said Arturo Escaip Manzu, director of Cancun's tourism authority.
However, if a major hurricane does head toward tourist areas, it would be best if all tourists went back to their home countries as early as possible, he said. For that reason, the construction of a new airport is being planned in the region. |
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