By Patricia Grogg, IPS. The impact of Hurricane Isaac in the Caribbean region highlighted both the fragility of some countries in the face of extreme meteorological events, which are expected to become more intense, and the different strategies adopted to mitigate the risk of disasters. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Patricia Grogg, IPS. The Dominican Republic (DR) could lose about one fifth of its territory to rising sea levels. In the DR, where over 43 out of every 100 people are poor, and over 16 out of 100 are abjectly poor, 70 percent of the cities are on riverbanks and other waterways that are covered by impoverished urban settlements. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office. According to a study by the Department of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with every 1 degree Celsius rise in Earth’s surface temperature, tropical regions will see 10 percent heavier rainfall extremes, with possible flooding in populous regions.
Continue reading →By Staff, AHP | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Dominican National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Proconsumidor) has sounded the alarm against consuming “Canaria” sugar imported from Brazil into the Dominican Republic (DR) by Casa SRL Chepe: a product marketed for two months in the DR and Haiti. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Staff, International Labor Rights Forum. Two separate fires in Pakistan killed more than 300 trapped workers: 289 workers in a Karachi apparel factory (sweatshop) and 25 workers in a Lahore shoe factory on Tuesday September 11, 2012. National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) leader Nasir Mansoor called this the “darkest and saddest day in the history of Pakistan’s labor movement.” The fires are considered to be the logical result of the low prices buyers offer the factories and the quick deliveries they demand.
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Like a hulking giant, Isaac has stomped across the Caribbean at practically human speed, for days. Ten miles per hour, 14 mph, and Isaac continues its march northwest and west-northwest, for nearly one week, as if for a rendez-vous. Isaac appears set to revisit Katrina’s old haunts. The timing is identical: midweek, near the end of August.
Continue reading →By Patricia Grogg, IPS. Cuba’s national disaster prevention system has made it the country with the lowest number of storm-related fatalities in the area encompassing the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (English | French | Spanish)
Continue reading →By University of Plymouth Scientists, Phys.org. The tropical regions of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans appear to act like a heart: accumulating heat and then pulsing it in bursts across the Earth.
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haitian government officials finally did something about Tropical Storm Isaac. They gathered 32 boats and 1250 temporary shelters as peace offerings to the storm gods. Then they gave a press conference at which they demanded that all those in charge of safety — whoever they might be — do their jobs, whatever these might be.
Continue reading →By Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists | NOAA | Haiti Chery. Scientific evidence links the destructive power of hurricanes to higher ocean temperatures driven by global warming.
Continue reading →Marco A. Gandásegui Jr, America Latina en Movimiento | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. In an annual exercise called Panamax, from August 6 to August 17, 2012 Panama was virtually occupied by troops from the U.S., France, Canada, the Netherlands, and 14 supposed Latin American allies, although the Panamanian Constitution says Panama has no army and its sovereignty is inalienable and nontransferable. (English | Spanish).
Continue reading →By Ricardo Pierre Placide, Le Matin | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Over the past several months, Haitian households have faced an unprecedented 40% increase on average in the prices of essential commodities such as eggs, rice, sugar, and flour. (English | French).
Continue reading →By Milo Milford (kft, gp), AlterPresse | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | YouTube. Lac Azuei, also called Etang Saumatre, is Haiti’s main natural lake. With an area of over 110 square kilometers (42.5 square miles), it is a lovely sight. The lake is also a place of feverish activity by child traffickers. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. At a visit to Haiti’s landmark Citadelle Laferriere, Martelly, to emphasize his disgust about the decrepit state of the 300-year old fort, took off in a huff, straight downhill on his motorcycle, leaving his motorcade to scramble after him down a steep and narrow mountain road. The result: an accident that gravely injured seven people and put in critical condition a journalist and a six-year old girl who had been inside her house.
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