National Emergency Declared For
Floods
Costa Rica's president, Abel
Pacheco, yesterday declared a
national emergency for the
Caribbean zone affected by the
rain and floods of the last
several days.
President Pacheco will travel
today to the zone for a first
hand look at the damage and
suffering caused by the over
boarding of rivers that has seen
more than 7.500 people evacuated
from their homes and housed in
70 temporary shelters.
Twelve bridges have been
seriously damaged and roads
washed away, separating several
communities from each other. The
area of Sixaola, near the Panama
border, is completely
inaccessible by road, boats and
helicopters are being used to
get emergency relief to those
stranded for more than 72 hours
without food or fresh water.
The national emergency decree
frees up government funds to aid
those affected as well as place
a priority on government
agencies with personnel,
machinery, financial aid and
anything they can spare to help
out the situation.
The good news is that the rain
has stopped and the flood waters
are starting to recede. Now the
hard process of accessing damage
and getting back to a normal
life can soon begin.
The flooding has damaged banana
plantations but has not affected
coffee-growing areas.
Preliminary reports are
calculating damages at between
¢7 and ¢9 billion colones (us$15
and us$195 million dollars).
Government, along with a score
of private companies are there
to help those affected. One
private company only identified
by it's program "amigos" was the
first, before emergency crews,
to reach Sixaola with food and
fresh water.
148 Earthquakes Registered So
Far This Month
January has been a moving month
so far. The Red Sismológica
Nacional UCR-ICE has detected
148 earthquakes in the last
eleven days, though the only
ones felt by were the 4.0 in
Quepos on January 2, the 4.2 in
Pérez Zeledón on January 10 and
the 4.2 in Alajuelita (San José)
that same morning and the 4.5 in
the Península de Osa registered
yesterday.
Experts say that increase in the
earth's movement is not related
to the climate change. Quake
expert, Mario Fernández Arce,
says that this is all normal and
is not related to weather
changes, just a coincidence.
Most of the quakes are not felt
other than by instruments at the
seismological institute and it's
monitoring stations. Fernández
is quick to point out that in
January of last year three
quakes were felt and in April
2004, 951 quakes were registered
but not felt.
Costa Rica is in a seismic
active region with several
tectonic plates creating the
movements: the placa del Coco,
place del Caribe and the bloque
de Panamá.
Yesterday's movement had it's
epicenter 48 kilometers
southwest of Puerto Cortés with
a depth of 25 kilometers. The
Ovsicori-UNA registered it at
4.5 at around 1pm.
Prison Overpopulation Still A
Problem
The
Ministerio de Justicia (Justice
Ministry) has been battling
overcrowding at the country's
jail and when it though it had
it almost under control, with
the addition of more than 1.000
beds, the situation had actually
worsened.
Ministra de Justicia, Patricia
Vega, released numbers that show
that in the 12 penitentiaries
across the country has seen a
rise in inmates from 6.465 in
2003 to 7.619 in November of
2004.
Minister Vega had predicted an
end to overpopulation, however,
the sharp increase in crime saw
an increase of 1.154 or a jail
and a half as the Minister Vega
put it, that has set records for
the number of prisoners
currently in jail.
The Minister said that there is
under construction space for 428
prisoners with a plan for the
2005-2006 fiscal period for
2.364 more at a cost of ¢3.800
million colones (us$825.000
dollars).
The cost to house a prisoner in
Costa Rica, according to the
Ministerio de Justicia figures
is between ¢3.458 (us$7.5) and
¢4.380 (us$9.5) colones per day.
Figures released show that the
most expensive prisoners to keep
are youths, who cost the about
¢18.210 ($39.50) per day per
prisoner.
The higher cost to house the
youths is the increase need for
vigilance and that they are
given a different diet that the
adult prisoners, like Corn
Flakes and chocolates, added
Minister Vega to the report.
|
|
Dream Holiday Turns to
Nightmare
A German professor who went
on a dream holiday to Costa
Rica woke up in an airport
departure lounge to find his
leg had been amputated. The
professor said he had gone
to see a doctor at a
hospital in San Jose because
his left foot was swollen.
He said: "An aspirin usually
did the trick. I have had
the problem before - it was
nothing serious - just
something caused by my
diabetes.
"When I got to the hospital
they put me on a bed and I
heard the word amputate. I
tried to protest, but before
I knew it they had given me
drugs to black me out, and
when I woke up I was at the
departure lounge.
"My suitcases were by my
side - and then I realized
my leg was missing. I
couldn't move, and when I
checked my wallet I found
that £200 had been taken out
and replaced with a receipt
for the amputation.
"It was like a bad dream and
I could not believe what had
happened."
Professor Ronald Jurisch,
50, from Dessau in
Sachsen-Anhalt, said the
holiday was booked for him
by friends for his birthday
as the trip of a lifetime.
After the operation, Prof
Jurisch collapsed and was
taken to a private clinic
where he was diagnosed with
blood poisoning.
He said it was four weeks
until a special medically
equipped plane took him back
to Germany where he
underwent 23 more operations
to try and repair the damage
from the amputation.
He is now seeking to take
legal action against the
hospital in San Jose.
|
|
|
|
