Issue 100 August 2005 Member Countries
2005 Hurricane Season Ramps Up Early
Posted in Issue 100 August 2005 Member Countries
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Hurricane Emily was an unpredictable storm from the beginning. It struck Grenada as a category 1 hurricane on July 13 causing damage to many of the same health facilities that were battered by last year’s Hurricane Ivan. Other Caribbean countries were spared devastation by Emily, which passed over the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula as a category 4 hurricane.
A seminar on the Hospital of the XXI Century will take place in Havana, Cuba from 11-14 October. Hospitals in disaster situations will be one of the topics covered. 
At the annual meeting of ministers of health of the Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela), delegates paid particular attention to disaster issues, approving the content of a health sector disaster preparedness and response strategic plan 2005-2010 and adopting the motto “safe hospitals in disaster situations” as an Andean risk reduction policy.
A fire at one of Costa Rica’s major health facilities in mid-July killed nineteen people. The tragic event brought to light the necessity to ensure that hospitals need to be safe from man-made as well as natural disasters. Failure to do so will make it difficult to prevent events like this from continuing, causing tragic consequences to our health networks.