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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NEXT CTR WILL BE PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1999.
(The following information is provided by CTR Webmaster Gert van Dijken)
Unfortunately it is that time of the year again: Atlantic hurricane season. Although this period spans a period of 6 months (June 1 - November 30), the peak for the Caribbean islands is 'only' from about the last ten days of August to the middle of September. Before that water temperatures in the Atlantic are too low and after that atmospheric conditions are in general less favorable. Not surprisingly, living on an island is very different than living on say the mainland of the USA, where when there is a high chance that a hurricane will pass over your home you can just take your car and drive for a couple of hours and be out of harms way. On a Caribbean island your only way out is by plane. Given the high cost of last minute tickets and the fact that the track of a hurricane is quite unpredictable (a few tens of miles more to the north or south can make a world of difference) few people do actually leave the island when a hurricane approaches and opt for sitting out the storm in their own home. Unfortunately world wide news coverage of the many small Caribbean islands is very minimal, incomplete or even totally lacking. After a storm telephone contact is often interrupted for parts of or the whole island. Family and friends living abroad will be unable to contact their loved ones. The sketchy reports in the newspaper often makes them even more worried. And that's where my website comes in. Over 200 special local hurricane correspondents are standing by to report the latest on what is really happening on the islands they live on. When there is a threat of a storm they will send updates on how the island is preparing. These reports will be posted on the Caribbean Hurricane Page website. More importantly, after the storm they will report on how the island fared and continue to give updates on the aftermath. Through them I hope to bring accurate, not sensationalized information on what is really happening on the island. In situations like this no news is often bad news. Last year during hurricanes Georges and Mitch I have received many, many thank-you notes from people with family or friends on the islands. Often my website was the only source of detailed information. They wrote that despite the fact that they were not able to get through to the islands, reading the reports from the hurricane correspondents made them worry a lot less. Many other people noted the website as well; more than 400,000 visited my website last year and I have received well over 2,500 e-mail messages. The often very personal reports can still be found on the website. You can really sense from their updates on how it is to go through such a stressful period. Also on the website is a 'Practical Guide to Hurricane Tracking'. This is filled with all kinds handy information when you are plotting hurricanes, like definitions, abbreviations, unit conversions and links to current weather on the islands and other hurricane websites. The 'Quick Hurricane Web Resource Locator' gives quick access to the latest advisories from the National Hurricane Center (together with alternate links in case their website is overloaded) and the latest satellite images. Hopefully we will not have such a bad season as last year. But you can be assured my hurricane correspondents are standing by! Many, many, many thanks to these volunteers for getting out the news and making this website work. Find it on the web at: The Caribbean Hurricane Page: http://gobeach.com/hurr.htm Practical Guide to Hurricane Tracking: http://gobeach.com/hurr3.htm Quick Hurricane Web Resource Locator: http://gobeach.com/hurricane
CONTENTS FOR JULY 15, 1999
1/ REGIONAL NEWS
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