Les Cayes, a small city in southern Haiti, does not boast the amenities that most look for in a "metropolitan" environment. Recently, however, Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency (DPC) has stepped up its attention to this area. A new Emergency Operations Center opened. Its first test was large tropical storm Ernesto that blew through in late August. Apparently the area proved better equipped to deal with this sort of disaster.
Though the 2006 Hurricane Season is winding down, it is by no means over. Accuweather offers a great way to see what's coming up from the south - you can track hurricanes and their intensity level via satellite imagery. I checked this religiously before my last trip to Haiti. During my first night there when I awoke to the incredible sound of crashing thunder, heard the wind outside and the rain pounding on the roof, I felt secure in knowing it was only a passing storm. The elderly man I stayed with told me, as I sat sipping strong coffee, that he awoke during this night as well and was sure a hurricane was blowing through.
It has only been recently that those living in rural communities in Haiti have had the luxury to
check the weather online. While touring the "computer lab" at Kay Espwa in Les Cayes, Fr. Marc told how when he first moved down they would just lie awake at night and wonder if the storm blowing through would become a hurricane or not. With weather tracking technology and equipment (computers, satellite dishes, telephones) brought in by the Emergency Operations Center, communities in the path of deadly tropical storms should be a lot better off. These are small steps... but steps just the same.
Though the 2006 Hurricane Season is winding down, it is by no means over. Accuweather offers a great way to see what's coming up from the south - you can track hurricanes and their intensity level via satellite imagery. I checked this religiously before my last trip to Haiti. During my first night there when I awoke to the incredible sound of crashing thunder, heard the wind outside and the rain pounding on the roof, I felt secure in knowing it was only a passing storm. The elderly man I stayed with told me, as I sat sipping strong coffee, that he awoke during this night as well and was sure a hurricane was blowing through.
It has only been recently that those living in rural communities in Haiti have had the luxury to
check the weather online. While touring the "computer lab" at Kay Espwa in Les Cayes, Fr. Marc told how when he first moved down they would just lie awake at night and wonder if the storm blowing through would become a hurricane or not. With weather tracking technology and equipment (computers, satellite dishes, telephones) brought in by the Emergency Operations Center, communities in the path of deadly tropical storms should be a lot better off. These are small steps... but steps just the same.
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