Hartley Neita,
Contributor
On Thursday, the world knew almost immediately that Hur-ricane Dennis had swerved just before reaching Morant Point in St. Thomas and was continuing to churn its way across the Caribbean Sea on its way to Cuba.
We have not yet heard from a minister of religion that he had stood on the Blue Mountain peak to direct this hurricane from our shores. Perhaps, however, it is as many have been suggesting for years, the configuration of the Blue Mountains which seems to save us so many times from these mighty winds which approach us from the east and southeast. Thank God, again. Let us now pray for our Cuban friends and neighbours.
Today's generation will never appreciate the magic of technology which enables us today to track hurricanes each year. Once upon a time, and not very long ago, it was not so. Farmers looked at the colour of the clouds in the sky and the birds racing over the trees and could predict hurricanes. Fishermen looked out to the horizon and knew if a hurricane was coming or not.
We did not have colour tele-
vision until the early 1980s and cable television with its inter-
national news and Weather Channel until the 1990s.
In my youth, a flag I think it was black was flown at the post offices in Jamaica to warn residents of an impending hurricane. A notice was also pinned on the bulletin boards at the offices giving details about its speed, direction and where it was. This notice was updated every twelve hours.
This information was transmitted from Miami by cable. It was obtained by aeroplanes which flew into the hurricanes to the eye, to carry out the measurements. Today, satellites circling the earth photograph these hurricanes and we are given up-dates every two hours with new words such as "imagery". Today, every person with a radio and a television set can monitor the movements.
In my youth time, in my district and in most of Jamaica, there was no electricity. So there were few radios. There were also very few telephones and basically few homes with piped domestic water. It was in 1939 that there was a radio station in Jamaica, ZQI, which broadcast for one hour per day, increasing to four hours in 1947.
call-in programmes
There were no call-in programmes for listeners to telephone their quarrels about lack of electricity or water. My grouse now is that the meteorologists in Jamaica not abroad keep telling us how far away the hurricane is in kilometers. Please, please, some of us grew all our years using miles to measure distance. Give us both measurements, and when you think my generation has passed away then you can delete miles from your dictionaries. By
then I hope you will find a suitable name for 'mile posts', and 'mile and distance' at Caymanas Park.
knowing before
Radio Jamaica came into existence in 1950 and the communications landscape began to change. We began to know about the advent of a hurricane long before it entered the Caribbean region.
In 1951, for example, while the governor, Sir Hugh Foot, was broadcasting a message to calm the public, his wife Lady Sarah Foot was trapped in Rollington Town in St. Andrew, and spent the night at the home of a family in this suburb. There were no cellular phones then for them to keep in touch with each other.
So we have been spared the havoc of another hurricane. I spent the day and night of expectancy at the home of my eldest son and his family. As with Ivan last year, the telephones worked. Except for a short time, we had water, so that I did not have to dance and bathe in the after-hurricane showers.
