ARAWAKROOTS NEWS
Volume 8, No.2
March 1, 2010
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 2/24/10)- Latin American and Caribbean leaders from 32 countries have agreed to set up a new regional grouping that excludes the US and Canada. The accord was announced at a summit here by the host, President Felipe Calderon who said the new alliance would represent an alternative to the Organisation of American States(OAS). The OAS- which includes both the US and Canada- has been the main international forum for the region for the past half-century.
Calderon emphasised the benefits of the new community and said the new bloc "will consolidate and globally project a Latin American and Caribbean identity."
Dominica's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, who is also current chairman of CARICOM, said that the establishment of a new hemispheric organisation should not be seen as an attempt to replace existing arrangements in the region. Skerrit said Cariibbean countries were not aligning themselves with Latin America to do away with the OAS- only that it would create another avenue where the countries could meet together.
The leaders agreed to meet again in Venezuela in 2011 when furthur details of the new bloc, including its name, were to be decided.
The summit also expressed full support for Argentina in the dispute with Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, as well as repeating calls for the US to lift its decades-old sanctions on Cuba.
Cuban President Raul Castro was one of the first to laud the new bloc as an historic move toward "the constitution of a purely Latin American and Caribbean regional organisation." Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 and, although the body last year voted to readmit the communist island, Havana has expressed no wish to rejoin the US-based organisation.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 2/26/10)- Through all the devastation here, another small but deadly event almost slipped under the radar. Researchers have discovered that January's earthquake triggered a tsunami.
Along with 4 Haitian colleagues, Dr. Hermann Fritz, a civil engineering professor at Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, travelled around the coast of Haiti gathering evidence before it disappeared forever. He had heard reports that a wave up to 3 meters high had hit some areas of the coast south of the capital and had claimed at least 3 lives.
"This was a relatively small event," Fritz told BBC News. "Most of the fatalities were due to the earthquake, but at least 3 victims survived the earthquake and were hit by the wave." A father and his 2 sons were on the shore at Petit Paradis watching the wave instead of heading for higher ground. "And on the border with the Dominican Republic, fishermen were taking photos and video of the draw-down of the sea. It was pure luck that the misinformation didn't kill more people."
The ominous draw-back in the water level is a classic sign that a big wave is approaching- although it should be noted that not all tsunamis are preceded by this behaviour.
Despite the devastation it caused, the Haiti earthquake was not of the type or magnitude usually associated with tsunamis. It also occurred on land and, to generate a tsunami, the event must be under the sea.
Dr. Fritz explained that the main causes of the Haitian tsunami were "local landslides". "But there are fault lines in this region where you are more likely to generate a tsunami," he said. "In the north of Hispaniola [Haiti/D.R.], we have fault lines running along very deep water." (In 1946, a Mag 8.1 earthquake hit the Dominican Republic, producing a tsunami that killed almost 2000 people.)
Fritz stated, "Education is critical to local tsunamis. Once you see the water draw down, you really shouldn't be there taking pictures."
The Haitian tsunami gave scientists a chance to find out how well vital and potentially life-saving warning systems were working. NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory has developed a warning system- called DART(Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis), that picks up signals of tsunamis directly from the sea floor. If seismometers detect an earthquake, the DART buoys determine what is happening to sea levels and whether a big wave might be on the way. This information is sent via sattelite to a central location which can organise an alert.
Within 50 minutes of the Haiti earthquake, the system was able to issue an alert to other countries in the Caribbean to say that a small tsunami had been triggered, and that it was unlikely to affect them. Right now, there are 50 of these DART buoys around the globe- 4 of which are in the Caribbean.
Of course, the infrastructure needs to be in place. In Haiti, the warning came in by telephone to a police station that had already collapsed.
CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 2/26/10)- Caribbean agriculture officials, already struggling to cope with a prolonged dry spell, are now facing another major challenge- a deadly plant fungus known as Black Sigatoka. The fungus, which affects mainly banana and plantain crops, causes premature ripening, which is a serious defect in exported fruit. The disease can cause a reduction of as high as 50% of the banana crop.
Black Sigatoka has been reported in at least 3 member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. There have also been suspected cases in Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago.
Sigatoka is spread by wind, water, insects, and humans in a number of ways including field visits and successive handling of diseased and healthy plants.
Agriculture economist for the OECS, George Alcee, called for stringent management and control practices in managing the disease. "One of the ways of helping curb the disease is for the quarantine experts to be more vigilant," he said. "You also need to intensify your management practices...such as detrashing to prevent spores from germinating in the field."
Black Sigatoka is not new in the Western hemisphere. The disease was first spotted in Fiji in 1963 and in Honduras in 1972, before making its way into the Caribbean.
CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 2/18/10)- Several Caribbean nations are battling prolonged low rainfall and the pattern could continue for some time, according to forcasters. The drought has been affecting countries from Jamaica to Guyana, as residents and farmers battle a shortage of water.
St. Lucia, the latest to report a crisis, is said to be ready to declare a "water-related emergency". The John Compton Dam, which supplies the north of the island, has seen its levels drop by a foot per day.
Drought-like conditions are not uncommon at this time of year in the Eastern Caribbean. But the situation has been exacerbated by the fact that the low rainfall began in October, the wettest month in the sub-region. The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology anticipates that the dry spell should last through March and possibly beyond.
Farmers in Guyana are crying out as well. The important rice industry is forcasting that production will be down by 6% because there is insufficient water for irrigation.
Other countries experiencing drought to varying degrees include Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua & Barbuda, Jamaica and Grenada.
In Barbados, bush fires triggered by flammable dry conditions and aided by high winds, have soared. The local fire service said it has responded to 587 grass fires, up from 35 last year. This has meant the diversion of water from domestic sources to fight fires.
ST. CROIX, US VIRGIN ISLANDS (VI DAILY NEWS- 2/24/10)- Proponents and opponents of 2 proposed power plants hashed out their positions at a Senate hearing here. No decisions on the controversial project were made at the hearing and the full Senate has yet to decide whether to OK the lease of government property on St. Thomas for one of the plants. (See Vol.7,#6 and Vol.7,#7 for more info)
The plants, to be built by Alpine Energy Group of Colorado, are to be fueled by petroleum coke and fuel derived from burning garbage from the landfills. They are being presented as a way to reduce the territory's dependence on oil, lower energy costs and solve the territory's mounting waste problem.
However, the Alpine plants will be considered major sources of air pollution because of the rate at which they emit particulate matter, volitile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen, and will require a "prevention of significant deterioration" permit from the EPA. Alpine will also have to show projected ground level emission impacts in nearby communities.
Water & Power Authority Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. said, "Computer dispersion models show that our citizens will still experience clean healthy air once the AEG plants are built and their impacts are combined with those of all other major sources. The clean air areas of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix will continue to remain clean and healthy based on comparisons to EPA air quality standards."
Opponents however, raised health and environmental concerns incuding: the disposal of the tons of ash produced as a byproduct of the process, the impact on St. Croix's south shore marine and wetland environments and the emission of dioxins into the atmosphere.
Michael Barron, a board member of the St. Croix Environmental Association said, "Communities all over the mainland have completely rejected coal-fired generation of power and 111 of 150 proposed coal and petroleum coke burners have been stopped by municipalities that decided not to take the easy way out. I submit that there is no such thing as 'clean petroleum coke' ".
Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Robert Mathes said the selection of Alpine was based on "the most comprehensive due diligence" and that those who negotiated the contracts "did the Virgin Islands proud."
ST. CROIX, USVI (VI DAILY NEWS- 1/28/10)- Castle Nugent is one step closer to becoming a National Historic Site, winning a vote in the US House of Representatives despite opposition from House Republicans. They used the Castle Nugent measure as an example of unnecessary spending in a tough economy.
"The Republicans were trying to make points in advance of the President's State of the Union Address and tried to make our bill a poster child for too much spending," Delegate to Congress Donna Christiansen said. "We got the votes we needed to pass the bill and move the process on to the US Senate."
The measure would add 2,900 acres to the National Park Service, protecting Caribbean dry forest, extensive coral reef and a substantial black mangrove population. It also would preserve the archeological remains of indigenous Taino inhabitants and a Danish colonial estate house that already is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service has found that Castle Nugent meets the criteria to determine national significance, suitability and feasability to become a National Historic Site. (See Archived News- Vol.3,#6 for an early look at this bill.)
The land currently operates as a cattle ranch owned by St. Croix resident Caroline Gasperi and operated by the University of the Virgin Islands, where Senepol- a breed native to St. Croix- has been raised since 1957. Cotton and indigo have also been grown on the farm, which was cultivated as early as the 1730's.
The bill ensures a continuing relatioship with UVI to support ongoing scientific research on Senepol cattle.
ST. JOHN, USVI (VI DAILY NEWS- 2/25/10)- Fundraising drives for relief efforts in Haiti are ongoing throughout the Virgin Islands and continue with a concert here by more than a dozen local musicians on Feb. 27.
The Haitian Relief and Goodwill Concert, a grassroots effort organized by local musicians, is scheduled to run from noon to midnight at Winston Wells Ballfield. Donations collected at the concert will support the Doctors Without Borders in providing medical relief to earthquake-torn Haiti.
The event is the brainchild of guitarist Phillip "Grasshopper" Pickering and the other members of Inner Visions, St. John's premier reggae band. They reached out to St. John Administrator Leona Smith and Ira Wade from Public Works for coordination assistance, informing the public and collecting donations.
The musical line-up includes: Inner Visions, Cool Sessions Brass, Ah We Band, Wrecktion Band, Echo People, Mighty Groover, Michael Beason, The Pan Dragons and many others.
