Special Update on Hurricane Alma
May 29, 2008 – Nicaragua Network Hotline
With winds of 80 miles per hour, Hurricane Alma, the first named storm of the 2008 season, is moving toward the Nicaraguan Pacific coast at a speed of about seven miles per hour. The country is on yellow alert with heavy rains falling in the region. Authorities of the Secretariat for Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (SINAPRED) are expecting to raise the alert level to red as the hurricane makes landfall later today. While the whole Pacific coast area will feel the effects of the hurricane, which are forecast to include as much as 20 inches of rain, the departments of Leon and Chinandega are expected to be the hardest hit.
Minister of Education Miguel de Castilla closed schools in the five departments affected by the storm—Managua, Leon, Chinandega, Carazo and Rivas. Castilla reported that 963 schools were being readied as shelters for people who could be forced from their homes by the hurricane.
Army Colonel Mario Perez-Cassar told a press conference that the Army’s Civil Defense unit was putting into effect a plan approved by President Daniel Ortega. Besides the Army, the National Police, the National Fire Department, the Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations are involved in the planning. Perez-Cassar noted, ironically that, at the moment, it is Bilwi/Puerto Cabezas that has received the most rain due to a tropical depression on the Atlantic Coast. He said that all the country’s mayors are preparing themselves with a special plan for Leon and Chinandega, where there is a fear that flooding from rising waters in the area’s many rivers will make access to some towns and villages difficult.
Around Lake Managua there are 75 critical points where shelters are being set up because flooding is a special danger and about 75,000 people could be affected. In Rivas, Carazo, Granada and Masaya, 125 shelters at critical points are being set up while in Leon and Chinandega greater vulnerability has caused authorities to set up 225 shelters.
If you can make a contribution for hurricane victims (sadly only nine months after you responded generously to Hurricane Felix) we will send 100% of the money on to the official relief agency, SINAPRED. Make your check out to “Nicaragua Network-AGJ” writing Hurricane Alma in the memo line. Mail it to:
Nicaragua Network
1247 “E” Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Or you can donate with a credit card at http://www.nicanet.org/?page_id=341. When you get to the page, click on “other,” write in “Hurricane Alma” and follow the instructions.
This hotline is prepared from Nicaraguan media sources. Nicanet can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355. Our web site is: www.nicanet.org. To subscribe to the Hotline, send an e-mail to nicanet@afgj.org
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