Black Immigrant Daily News

Hurricane Ivan has become known as one of the worst hurricanes to hit the Caribbean region. Eighteen years ago, on Sunday September 12 2004, the eye of the storm passed within eight to 15 miles of Grand Cayman, striking the island with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, gusts of up to 217 mph, and a storm surge of seawater of 8 to 10 feet, with wave heights of 20-30 feet, submerging most of the Island.

As a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, Ivan ultimately registered wind speeds in excess of 165 mph on the Saffir-Simpson scale, killing 124 people and resulting in US$23.3 billion in damages across all of the affected areas.

Loop Cayman presents 15 facts behind the most memorable weather system in the history of the Cayman Islands.

1. At the time, Ivan was sixth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record.

2. In the Cayman Islands, two deaths were recorded as a result of Hurricane Ivan; one was caused by flying debris and the other by drowning.

3. 402 people were treated for lacerations, wounds, removal of foreign bodies, fractures and burns as a result of the disaster. (Reliefweb)

4. Hurricane Ivan caused a reported US$2.86 billion in damages in the Cayman Islands (183% of GDP at the time).

5. Ivan’s winds and storm surge caused widespread property damage. A quarter or more of the buildings in the Cayman Islands were rendered uninhabitable, with 95 per cent having some degree of damage. The total financial effect on the housing sector was estimated at CI$1.4 billion (Reliefweb).

6. Two days after the hurricane, the islands were still submerged by water.

7. The three most affected districts were George Town, Bodden Town and East End, which accounted for 75 per cent of the total population on Grand Cayman.

8. The island took months to achieve basic recovery. It took months for island-wide reinstatement of power, water, and sewer services and after five months, less than half the pre-Ivan hotel rooms were usable.

9. The financial effect on Cayman’s finance (commerce) and tourism sectors were estimated at around CI$460 million each (Reliefweb)

10. ECLAC estimated that the amount of per capita damage and losses to the Cayman Islands was US$75,700 per person– the highest ever encountered by ECLAC.

11. Ivan occurred during the decade with the most Category 5 hurricanes (2000-2009) on record. The eight category 5 hurricanes included Isabel (2003), Ivan (2004), Emily (2005), Katrina (2005), Rita (2005), Wilma (2005), Dean (2007), and Felix (2007).

12. Ivan was one of nine Atlantic hurricanes to ever reach Category 5 intensity on more than one occasion; that is, after reaching Category 5 intensity, then weakening to a lower category, and then becoming a Category 5 hurricane again.

13. Hurricane Ivan had a duration of 60-hours, hitting Cayman with wind speeds of more than 100 mph for 7-hours. This was the fourth longest of any of the 35 category 5 hurricanes in recorded history. The longest category 5 hurricane in recorded history occurred in 1932 (before hurricanes were given names) and lasted 78 hours, also having a significant impact on the Cayman Islands.

14. Hurricane Ivan was a record breaker. It set 18 new records for intensity at low latitudes. At the time, it held the world record of 33 (with 32 consecutive) six-hour periods of intensity at or above Category 4 strength. The tornado outbreak associated with Ivan spawned 127 tornadoes, which was more than any other tropical cyclone worldwide.

15. In the Cayman Islands, Hurricane Ivan destroyed 8,500 cars, resulted in a loss of 25-40 school days, and caused 6,500 people to be relocated to shelters.

The Cayman Islands continues to be highly vulnerable to hurricanes. According to hurricanecity.com, the Cayman Islands is the area most affected by hurricanes in the Caribbean sea and the fifth most affected area in the world.

Since 2004, the Cayman Islands has significantly enhanced its disaster management strategy and established Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) which is the focal point of disaster risk management (2007), responsible for the management of the National Emergency Management Center (NEOC). There have been a substantial number of measures implemented to ensure that the island is well-prepared now and in the future.

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Upon taking the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II inherited millions of subjects around the world, many of them unwilling. Today, in the British Empire’s former colonies, her death brings complicated feelings, including anger.

Beyond official condolences praising the queen’s longevity and service, there is some bitterness about the past in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Talk has turned to the legacies of colonialism, from slavery to corporal punishment in African schools to looted artefacts held in British institutions. For many, the queen came to represent all of that during her seven decades on the throne.

In Kenya, where decades ago a young Elizabeth learned of her father’s death and her enormous new role as queen, a lawyer named Alice Mugo shared online a photograph of a fading document from 1956. It was issued four years into the queen’s reign, and well into Britain’s harsh response to the Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule.

“Movement permit,” the document says. While over 100,000 Kenyans were rounded up in camps under grim conditions, others, like Mugo’s grandmother, were forced to request British permission to go from place to place.

“Most of our grandparents were oppressed,” Mugo tweeted in the hours after the queen’s death Thursday. “I cannot mourn.”

Two lorry loads transporting Kikuyu people arrive at a reception camp outside Nairobi, Kenya, on April 28, 1954, after 5,000 British troops and 1,000 armed police rounded up some 30,000 to 40,000 men for screening. The sweep followed the breakdown of the surrender invitation launched by the authorities after the capture of Mau Mau’s “General China.” At the reception camp many men were released after screening. Others were sent to detention camps by the sea. (AP Photo, File)

But Kenya’s outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta, whose father, Jomo Kenyatta, was imprisoned during the queen’s rule before becoming the country’s first president in 1964, overlooked past troubles, as did other African heads of state. “The most iconic figure of the 20th and 21st centuries,” Uhuru Kenyatta called her.

Anger came from ordinary people. Some called for apologies for past abuses like slavery, others for something more tangible.

“This commonwealth of nations, that wealth belongs to England. That wealth is something never shared in,” said Bert Samuels, a member of the National Council on Reparations in Jamaica.

Elizabeth’s reign saw the hard-won independence of African countries from Ghana to Zimbabwe, along with a string of Caribbean islands and nations along the edge of the Arabian Peninsula.

Some historians see her as a monarch who helped oversee the mostly peaceful transition from empire to the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 nations with historic and linguistic ties. But she was also the symbol of a nation that often rode roughshod over people it subjugated.

There were few signs of public grief or even interest in her death across the Middle East, where many still hold Britain responsible for colonial actions that drew much of the region’s borders and laid the groundwork for many of its modern conflicts. On Saturday, Gaza’s Hamas rulers called on King Charles III to “correct” British mandate decisions that they said oppressed Palestinians.

In ethnically divided Cyprus, many Greek Cypriots remembered the four-year guerrilla campaign waged in the late 1950s against colonial rule and the queen’s perceived indifference over the plight of nine people whom British authorities executed by hanging.

Yiannis Spanos, president of the Association of National Organization of Cypriot Fighters, said the queen was “held by many as bearing responsibility” for the island’s tragedies.

Now, with her passing, there are new efforts to address the colonial past, or hide it.

India is renewing its efforts under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove colonial names and symbols. The country has long moved on, even overtaking the British economy in size.

“I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in today’s world, because we are the world’s largest democratic country,” said Dhiren Singh, a 57-year-old entrepreneur in New Delhi.

There was some sympathy for Elizabeth and the circumstances she was born under and then thrust into.

In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, resident Max Kahindi remembered the Mau Mau rebellion “with a lot of bitterness” and recalled how some elders were detained or killed. But he said the queen was “a very young lady” then, and he believes someone else likely was running British affairs.

“We cannot blame the queen for all the sufferings that we had at that particular time,” Kahindi said.

Timothy Kalyegira, a political analyst in Uganda, said there is a lingering “spiritual connection” in some African countries, from the colonial experience to the Commonwealth. “It is a moment of pain, a moment of nostalgia,” he said.

The queen’s dignified persona and age, and the centrality of the English language in global affairs, are powerful enough to temper some criticisms, Kalyegira added: “She’s seen more as the mother of the world.”

Mixed views were also found in the Caribbean, where some countries are removing the British monarch as their head of state.

“You have contradictory consciousness,” said Maziki Thame, a senior lecturer in development studies at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, whose prime minister announced during this year’s visit of Prince William, who is now heir to the throne, and Kate that the island intended to become fully independent.

The younger generation of royals seem to have greater sensitivity to colonialism’s implications, Thame said — during the visit, William expressed his “profound sorrow” for slavery.

Nadeen Spence, an activist, said appreciation for Elizabeth among older Jamaicans, isn’t surprising since she was presented by the British as “this benevolent queen who has always looked out for us,” but young people aren’t awed by the royal family.

“The only thing I noted about the queen’s passing is that she died and never apologised for slavery,” Spence said. “She should’ve apologised.”

___

By CARA ANNA, DANICA COTO and RODNEY MUHUMUZA, Associated Press

Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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PARAMARIBO — Hoewel de raad van toezicht van de Stichting Productieve Werkeenheden (SPWE) slechts drie maanden zal aanzitten, gelooft voorzitter

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Black Immigrant Daily News

There was heightened excitement last Saturday as the ‘Small Business Pull-up’ ventured into the constituency of St. John’s Rural South. UPP Candidate for the Constituency, Gladys Potter, led a large convoy of supporters through Ottos, Golden Grove and Nut Grove to patronize 30 small businesses operators on the itinerary. This initiative is part of the United Progressive Party’s (UPP) drive to support small businesses.

“We received a warm welcome from the small business owners and it was a pleasure to showcase my community to our supporters. As proprietor of a small business, I understand the struggles that many small businesses face. Every purchase helps us provide wages for our workers, keep the lights on and put food on the table for our families,” said Gladys Potter.

The UPP team capitalized on the opportunity to share the Party’s plans and policies for the growth and development of small businesses and the community, with patrons and owners of small establishments.

“The UPP recognizes the importance of small businesses to the fabric of the community. This high-energy expedition also allowed patrons to fully experience the diversity and unique culture of this proud community,” said Harold Lovell, Political Leader of the UPP.

This week’s activation of the “Small Business Pull-Up” was the largest and most vibrant since the initiative launched four weeks ago. The tour highlighted some of the best eateries, bars, legendary shops and spanish-owned businesses in the constituency.

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