HURRICANE MITCH: CANADA'S EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Contents
Canada's international reputation as a good neighbour and peacekeeper was enhanced by its recent role in providing aid and assistance to countries ravaged by Hurricane Mitch. In acquitting itself admirably, our new Canadian Forces Emergency Response Team is a model for international co- operation and humanitarian relief. It is also an important case study of logistical operations and effective disaster management. (Start : 44:11; Length:14:04)
Contents Introduction The Storm of the Century
Aid, Expertise, and the International Community Awesome Power The Impact on Crops and Agriculture A Canadian Observer Canada Provides Aid DART The Anatomy of a Hurricane Capricious Mother Nature Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
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Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules
Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the universal issues they represent and for the archival and historic material they contain. "Canada's Recession," March 1991 "Farmers Revolt," November 1991 "Hard Times, Disappearing Jobs," February 1992 "Canada Now: A Diverse Landscape (Urban and Rural Ways of Life)," 1992 "Jobs for the 90s: Training for the Future?" April 1994 "The Changing World Economy," October 1998
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Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger viewers.
HURRICANE MITCH: CANADA'S EMERGENCY RESPONSE
.Introduction
When Lieutenant-Colonel Wayne Douglas, a career artillery officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, and the man appointed head of Canada's new military Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), was told he'd be shipping out to Honduras in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, he was eager to get underway. When he arrived with his 180-person team in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, in early November 1998, the city was a disaster zone. Rivers had just begun to recede after overflowing their banks, bridges were down, and a terrible odour from bodies of people and animals decomposing in the mud hung over the city. Throughout the country there was extensive damage. The transportation infrastructure was gone, and crops had been wiped out. And this was just in one country. Damage had also been caused in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
Douglas's mission would be the first full-scale deployment of DART since its inception nearly two years ago. The mission was considered to be a test case of how Canada's military could provide emergency help in the future, not only abroad but at home. And it was hoped that a successful performance by this specialized team would help to erase some of the bitter memories surrounding incidents relating to members of the Canadian Forces in recent years: namely, the flawed peacekeeping mission in Somalia, and hazing incidents among the now disbanded Canadian Airborne Regiment.
Hurricane Mitch, however, would turn out to be a formidable opponent. The worst Atlantic hurricane since 1780, Mitch was responsible for an estimated 9000 deaths, 15 000 missing people, and 2 million homeless. In Honduras, a country the size of Nova Scotia and whose infrastructure was virtually wiped out by the hurricane, over 80 per cent of the crops were destroyed, and valuable topsoil was washed away by the flooding, which will mean that planting new crops will be incredibly difficult. Roads and bridges were washed away, and only one airstrip remained functional. Schools were destroyed, and textbooks and educational materials were literally swept away, putting the school year on hold indefinitely. The people were left with no clean water, no sanitation system, and little food. Doctors and nurses could not cope with the extent of the disaster, and disease began to spread. As if that was not enough, hundreds of thousands of land mines planted during the civil war in Nicaragua in the 1980s were exposed and washed away by the flooding, putting the population at even greater risk.
Amid all the destruction, however, there was hope. The world rallied to the support of the people in the affected regions. Billions of dollars worth of food, medicine, and other supplies was sent to the area. Community agencies also collected cash to be sent to the region to be put to whatever use was deemed most urgent. Doctors, nurses, engineers, and other civilian volunteers flew to the area to help in whatever way they could. Houses were rebuilt, roads and bridges repaired, mud was shovelled off roads and out of buildings, food was packaged and delivered, clothing was distributed, medicine was administered, and water supplies were restored. Despite the enormous losses and destruction, international humanitarian assistance, in particular on the part of the Canadian military, was immediate and effective.
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Introduction The Storm of the Century Aid, Expertise, and the International Community Awesome Power The Impact on Crops and Agriculture A Canadian Observer Canada Provides Aid DART The Anatomy of a Hurricane Capricious Mother Nature Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger viewers.
HURRICANE MITCH: CANADA'S EMERGENCY RESPONSE
.The Storm of the Century
Hurricane Mitch is the worst hurricane to hit the Atlantic region since 1780. Although the official death toll may never be known, it is estimated that over 9000 people were killed across Central America, 15 000 people are missing, and over 2 million have been left homeless. Although the numbers themselves are staggering, it is difficult to understand the scope of this disaster without seeing it with our own eyes.
Viewing The Destruction Make a heading in your notebook entitled Images of Destruction. As you view this News in Review story for the first time, try to capture visual images you see that you find particularly representative of the effect of this natural disaster.
Imaginative Identification After discussing your notes with a classmate, put yourself in the position of a survivor of the storm and write a letter describing the destruction that has hit your country.
Assessing the Damage After the world had a chance to digest the extent of the destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch, energy was focused on helping the people of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador rebuild. Before aid could be channelled effectively, though, the extent of the damage needed to be carefully assessed. To help you comprehend the immensity of the damage, watch this story a second time and make notes in chart form in which you gather essential information from the video, listing it under the headings Immediate Needs and Long- term Needs. Estimating the Relief Work Working with a classmate, compile the statistical information that each of you has gathered in the preceding task. Reread your points and group the immediate and long-term needs together into specific categories and suggest how local people working in concert with international agencies could begin to meet these needs. Consider especially the following and whether they require immediate or long-term solutions: