Weather Threatens Again the
Caribbean
According to the forecast by the
Instituto Meteorológico Nacional
(IMN) - the weatherman - a cold
front accompanied by rain and
strong winds will threaten the
battered Caribbean area once
more. The northern part of the
Caribbean coast will be most
affected.
The same weather conditions
caused the heavy rain and
flooding of the area last week
that left thousands homeless,
four dead and six missing. The
Red Cross and National Emergency
Commission are continuing their
efforts of aid.
The rains today are not to be as
strong as last weeks and no
major flooding is expected,
though authorities are asking
everyone to be on the alert.
The weather change can be felt
all the way to the Central
Valley as San José woke up this
morning cloudy and with strong,
cold winds, a sharp contrast of
the sunny and warm weather of
the last couple of days.
Of the more than 8.500 who had
to leave their homes, some 3.900
continue still continue to live
in temporary shelters. Food and
clothing have been pouring into
the area. The government sent a
shipment of 69 tonnes of rice
and 30.000 litres of fresh
water, though it has not been
enough.
Preliminary damage reports put
the damage at us$20 million
dollars. Some 3.147 hectares of
banana and pineapple plantations
and rice fields have been
damaged or washed away, which
will see an increase in
unemployment in the coming
months.
Some 214 communities were
affected, with damage to 3.928
houses, 26 clinics and
hospitals, 21 water lines and 85
roads and bridges damaged, some
beyond repair, in the provinces
of Heredia (northern zone) and
Limón (southern zone).
Teletica Telethon Yesterday;
Today Repretel To Do the Same
At
11:30am yesterday the band
struck the first note of the
campaign "un rojo por un hermano"
as the Teletica telethon
officially got underway across
the street at the television
station's offices in La Sabana
park, to raise money and items
of necessities for those
affected by rain and flood in
the Caribbean zone.
Un rojo por un hermano refers to
a ¢1.000 colones note which
locally referred to as a "rojo".
Telethon organizers are asking
anyone who can spare a rojo for
their brother in the Caribbean.
Employees of Teletica Channel 7,
Telenoticias, Bien Dia, Asi es
la Visa and Cable Tica were on
hand to make the event a
success. The event was staged in
front of the Estadio Nacional
(National Stadium) at the west
end of the Sabana Park.
Workers were also seen visiting
the Presidential House where
they hit up President Abel
Pacheco, his ministers and
employees for donations.
Teletica workers, along with Red
Cross workers and volunteers
visited many businesses in the
downtown area, asking for
donations of food, clothing and
items of personal hygiene.
Arias Makes It Official, Seeks
the Presidency
"Veinte
años después, aquí vamos de
nuevo",
Óscar Arias told he followers.
Óscar
Arias Sánchez, if he were to win
the 2006 election, would be the
first former president to take
the presidential chair since
re-elections were banned back in
the late 1940's.
Arias, who won a Nobel Peace
Prize in the 1980s, registered
with his party Friday to once
again seek the presidency.
The former president arrived at
the headquarters of the National
Liberation Party at the Balcón
Verde in La Sabana with his
brother, Rodrigo, who is to
serve as his campaign manager.
A large group of supporters,
many clutching balloons and
waving green and white party
flags, cheered as Arias
officially declared his
candidacy, the first formal step
to campaigning for the February
2006 presidential election.
After completing the paper work,
he stayed to chat with many in
the crowd as musicians played in
the background.
The party is to formally
announce its candidate in June.
So far, Arias is the only
announced candidate and
registration expires today.
Arias was president from 1986 to
1990 and won the Nobel award in
1987 for helping to bring about
peace talks that led to the end
of civil wars in neighboring
nations.
The re-election laws were
amended in 2003 two years for
what some says was to make way
for Arias to run again. Former
president Alberto Monge has been
vocal on his feelings against
presidents being re-elected. The
amendments to the re-elections
laws says that a president could
run run again after leaving
office and sitting out at least
one four-year term.
Arias has remained popular with
many Costa Ricans, thanks in no
small part to his Nobel prize.
Region
Lacks Proper
Tsunami Alert
No surprise that
Costa Rica does not have a
system to detect and alert the
population of the coastal areas
about the threat of a tsunami.
Even though five years ago the
School of Geology and the
National Seismological Network
- both from the University of
Costa Rica - made a proposal to
establish a Central American
warning system, this has not
been possible because it has not
been possible to obtain proper
funding.
Mario Fernandez,
director of the National
Emergency Commission, said that
a plan will be analyzed this
month in Kyoto, Japan, at a
conference on disasters, which
Costa Rica has been invited to
attend and it is expected to obtain
$500,000 in funding.
Luis Diego Morales, chairman of
the National Emergency
Commission, said that there is
one warning system in place for
earthquakes on the Pacific
Ocean, but it is located in
Hawaii and there would be no
time to warn the population in
case of a regional event.
The
issue of the warning system
gathered new strength after the
tsunamis that wrought so much
devastation in Asia. According
to some analysts, the rare
occurrence of a tsunami in the
region is the reason for the
delay in taking the proper
steps, as is the case now.
|
|
More
Freedom of the Press
Costa Ricans believe that
today the press has more freedom
to inform about any issue; they
also give high grades to the
performance of the media. Three
years ago, the feeling was that
journalists met too many
obstacles when investigating
certain issues.
The data
surfaced in the August 2001 and
the December 2004 surveys by UNIMER for the daily
Spanish language newspaper La Nacion.
In the most recent poll, 61
percent of the respondents said
that there is freedom of the
press in this country, while 35
percent believe that there are
still some restrictions that do
not help the performance of
media. In 2001, the figures were
32.6 and 63.4 percent,
respectively.
Both in 2001 and
2004, the performance of the
press is considered good. In the
most recent survey, a full 94
percent of the people considered
the performance of the press
"good to very good", while three
years ago the figure was 76
percent.
Lower
Death Toll from
Road Accidents
The mandatory wearing of
safety belts, the obligatory
vehicle emission and mechanical
tests, and the prevention
campaigns have proven effective
to lower the number of deaths in
road accidents, Transportations
officials say.
Last year, 321 people died
in traffic events, 42 less than
in 2003, 73 less than in 2002,
and 123 less than in 2001, even
though the number of vehicles
has been fast increasing, from
722,664 the year before last to
751,000 last year.
The Traffic Police reports 295
fatal accidents in 2004, as
compared to 326 in 2003.
As to the causes of accidents,
speeding leads drunk driving.
|
|
|
|
