THE STAR Businessweek Disaster preparedness
JUNE 30, 2018
www.stluciastar.com
Flooded Havana streets after hurricane Irma 2017
Puerto Rico’s ordeal by hurricane is not yet over Puerto Rico was pummelled last year by not one hurricane, but two. The second of these, Maria, made landfall on September 20 with winds of 155 miles an hour. Page 3
Caribbean Recovery Lessons learned from the devastating 2017 hurricane season By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent
Hurricane Irma swept into the Caribbean on September 6, 2017. By the time it made landfall in Cuba, the category-five hurricane had devastated much of the region, particularly the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, British Virgin Islands (BVI), Anguilla, St. Martin and St. Barts. Hot on its heels was the equally destructive Maria which formed in the Atlantic just two weeks later. Also a category-five, Maria compounded the destruction in the Leeward Islands and is regarded as the worst natural disaster on record in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Nine months later, the region is rebounding. Many of BVI’s resorts and hotels have re-opened, almost half of Dominica’s total room stock is now back onstream and most of the affected islands are welcoming cruise ships back to their ports. The road to recovery has been a difficult one, however, and the economic aftershocks will be felt for some time. As the 2018 hurricane season gets underway, experts predict between five and nine storms and
say as many as four of these could be major hurricanes. Eager to avoid last year’s devastation, stakeholders are now asking what lessons they can take from the 2017 crisis.
Under-threat ancient sites scanned for virtual reality experience Ancient historical sites that are threatened by natural disaster or conflict can be explored online under a new initiative harnessing the latest laser scanning equipment and virtual reality technology. Page 5
TOURISM DOWNTURN
While the Caribbean hit a tourism milestone last year, welcoming 30 million visitors, the progress and potential of its number one industry was significantly impacted by hurricanes Irma and Maria. According to figures from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), stay-over visitors fell 1.7 per cent in the second half of 2017 and some hurricaneaffected destinations saw their tourism industry decrease by as much as 18 per cent. Continued on page 8
Plus more FT articles Pages 6 and 9
