Ivan the Terrible in Grenada By Stephenson Worme Ivan the Terrible in Grenada provides a vivid account of the destruction of Grenada by Hurricane Ivan... see details and order book here

Special Feature from October issue of Everybody's Magazine: Hurricanes of 2004 To contribute to Everybody’s Magazine hurricane or natural disaster fund and to learn more about the funds go to the Everybody’s Magazine Charitable Foundation page. Ivan & Friends: Island Hopping A Caribbean-American Hurricane Fund There's good in hurricanes!

Hurricane Island Hopping

	Grenada Above: Coordinator of Regional Security Service Grantley Watson, left, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, second from left, and other Government officials leave the offices of the Grenada Broadcasting Network which was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. Left: Houses torn apart by the strong winds of Hurricane Ivan sit on one of the hills of St George’s, Grenada.

St Vincent A damaged house is shown in Kingstown, St. Vincent, after the passing of Hurricane Ivan	Jamaica Shoppers wait in long lines to buy food items in Kingston, Jamaica, as they prepare for hurricane Ivan
St Lucia Locals take part in clean up efforts due to damage by hurricane Ivan	St Lucia Damage caused by hurricane Ivan in the village of Dennery on the coast line of Castries, St. Lucia
Bahamas Pedestrians and vehicles maneuver around a yacht resting on the road across from the marina where it was originally moored Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004 in downtown Marsh Harbour, Abaco in the Northern Bahamas. Floodwaters from Hurricane Jeanne subsided leaving many boats as far inland as half a mile.	Barbados Jean Conliffe, 65, watches the demolition of her house, damaged by hurricane Ivan, in southern St. Philip parish, in Barbados
Cuba Cubans evacuate from their homes Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004 in La Coloma, near Pinar Del Rio, West of Havana, Cuba as hurricane Ivan approaches this island’s western side.	Haiti People try to take a bag of rice from a man near a food distribution center for victims of Hurricane Jeanne in Gonaives, Haiti, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2004.
Trinidad & Tobago Not much damage to Trinidad but Tobago got its share of Ivan's wrath.
Florida Residents return to their homes on Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce, Fla., Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004, following the evacuation as a result of Hurricane Jeanne. Jeanne, the fourth storm to hammer the state in six weeks, left behind a trail of death, frustration and record-setting destruction.	Florida Pennwood Moter Lodge maid Robin Bailey walks away from what was the lodge’s front office Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004, on U.S. Highway 1 near Sebastian, Fla. Hurricane Jeanne blew off the roof Saturday night.

The Need for a Caribbean-American Hurricane Relief Fund

By Herman Hall

It is not that Caribbean-Americans are selfish and don't want to give, the problem is that we are not organized and mobilized to give when the victims need it most.

There were two million or more Caribbean-Americans on Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY eating, drinking and prancing in the popular cultural event we call carnival. Almost 36 hours later, a hurricane devastates several Caribbean islands and Caribbean-Americans do not have an organization in place that can be immediately ignited to provide emergency help on a significant level.

A few years ago, in a commentary in this magazine, we suggested the creation of a permanent hurricane relief fund organized by Caribbean nationals and their offspring residing in the U.S.

This is the perfect time to evaluate establishing a hurricane disaster fund.

Unlike volcanoes and earthquakes that hurt the region once in a blue moon, hurricanes reap havoc almost every year and in some years, such as David in 1981, Gilbert in 1989, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004, the destruction is more intense than normal. So why can't we raise the necessary finances in anticipation of the annual visit of hurricanes?

We are not implying that a hurricane fund will underwrite the expenses created by each hurricane. Governments and the private sector are responsible for getting the economy floating but there is a limit to what governments, businesses and worldwide charitable organizations such as the Red Cross can provide. Moreover, the region is not as rich as the State of Florida where Floridians can rely on help from the federal government. Even in Florida hundreds of individuals are generally in need months after a killer-hurricane, so one can imagine the plight of hurricane victims in the less-developed Caribbean.

The region depends on expatriates and friends around the world to make a contribution when disaster strikes. The good news is that many expatriates contribute.

The bad news is that most people abroad contribute only when a hurricane destroys their homeland and most people don't give a darn if the hurricane spares their island but devastates a neighboring island.

The bad news is that the contributions by Caribbean-American organizations are slow to accumulate; the donations are small, they come in slower and slower and by the time each organization goes through their procedures to give $50 to $500 (much slower than getting a bill through Congress), the next hurricane season is about to start.

True, one has to appreciate each contribution whether it is $1 from the person who cleans offices and bathrooms for a living or the successful professional who gives $100 towards the relief effort; but it takes too long a time to collect the funds and give them to victims. Funds should be readily available for use as soon as a hurricane touches down.

It is embarrassing to say that groups of non-Caribbean persons can organize an effective fund raising drive much faster than the Caribbean-American community. In the Caribbean-American community, we have as many organizations as people. The smaller the island, the more organizations there are. A natural disaster hits an island and it takes weeks to raise a few dollars. And, even for the organizations that give, it takes them two or more meetings to give a paltry donation.

It is not that Caribbean-Americans are selfish and don't want to give, the problem is that we are not organized and mobilized to give when the victims need it most.

Every spring and summer, especially at North American carnivals and outdoor events, people can be asked to give a dollar to the fund. Just think, every year we brag that we had over 2 million people at Brooklyn's West Indian Carnival. If each person were to give at least $1 to the fund, we would generate over $2,000,000 towards the fund each year.

Another strategy is to ask the IRS through the Congress to give taxpayers the option of donating $1 on the 1140 Forms to the fund.

There are several other ideas that can be given by us and by readers like yourself and other individuals for establishing this permanent hurricane fund. We believe that there are scores of lawyers, tax consultants, accountants and experienced charitable organizations, such as the United Way, Red Cross, Urban League, and United Jewish Appeal, that will provide, hopefully, their expertise pro bono towards the establishing of the fund.

Caribbean-Americans must emulate the shining example of nationals in the Islands. Those nationals were organized and motivated to provide assistance immediately after Ivan's devastation. In Barbados more than $1,000,000 was raised in one night including donations from children and senior citizens for Grenada; the citizens of Trinidad & Tobago and other island-nations also had successful fund raising campaigns.

Hurricane drives by citizens in those islands were successful for the simple reason that they had an organizational structure in place that was able to mobilize the public immediately, effectively and efficiently. That's what needed from Caribbean-Americans. Unfortunately, we are miles behind.

“Hurricanes contribute to the global balance of heat and moisture in the atmosphere between tropical and temperate regions …The winds and floods not only create new habitats, but they also disperse seeds and animals thereby increasing biodiversity.”

THERE’S GOOD IN HURRICANES!
ONE GAVE US ALEXANDER HAMILTON

By H.G. Hall

If hurricanes were humans or even animals they would be the wretched of the earth. Nobody loves hurricanes because in our eyes, this not welcomed, unappreciated gift from Mother Nature is devastative, heartless, cruel and murderous.

Take Hurricane Ivan. No one praised Ivan as a macho, motivated, noble and determined hurricane that originated almost at the equator; made its first landfall in most southern of Caribbean states – Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Tobago and Grenada – and almost three weeks later died gracefully as a weak storm far, far away from the tropics in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts after presenting gifts of strong winds and floods in those northeastern states.

Nobody saluted Ivan for majestically traveling thousands of miles, leaving destruction as a commemorative plaque for people to see during the next ten years in islands and states where it visited.

Instead of praising Ivan for his boldness, resilience and longevity, we insulted him by branding him “Ivan the Terrible.”

Ivan is the most powerful hurricane of early 21st century and we should be thankful since it may be another 49 years before a hurricane of Ivan status hit the Caribbean and the American mainland. Unlike the politicians of today who are creating debts and loans for our grandchildren to pay, Ivan gave us its wrath ensuring that there may not be such a powerful hurricane for a few decades; so Ivan may have ensured that today's generation pay the hurricane bills for tomorrow's generation.

If Ivan and other hurricanes could speak our language they would tell of us the benefits they provide.

It was the hurricane of 1772 (hurricanes were not yet given names) that provided the United States one of its most famous Founding Fathers, the West Indian, Alexander Hamilton. Think about that folks! Thru Alexander Hamilton, the hurricane of 1772 gave us the principal author of the Federalist Papers, the first Secretary of the Treasury, sadly the New York Post, the Bank of New York and lots of bridges and roads in New York and New Jersey with the name Alexander Hamilton. Yes, that man on your $10 bill, Hamilton, who Reaganites want to replace with their man, came to America as a result of the hurricane of 1772.

Hamilton, born in Nevis in 1755 or 1757, by thirteen years was working in the shipping (export/import) firm of Nicholas Cruger in St. Croix. Hamilton was extremely talented and he was even managing the company in his boss' absence. His brilliant description of the hurricane of 1772 in letters to New York merchants and his article in the St. Croix newspaper encouraged wealthy merchants to pay for Hamilton to come to one of the thirteen North American colonies to get a formal education. Hamilton arrived in New York via Massachusetts and by 1773 was enrolled at Kings College now Columbia University and in 1776 he joined the Continental Army. The rest is history.

Where would be the United States today without the hurricane of 1772 and Alexander Hamilton? (An exhibition, Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America, is at the New York Historical Society in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Hamilton's violent death. The exhibition closes on February 28, 2005.)

If the hurricane of 1772 could talk, it will sarcastically say to us, “I gave America Alexander Hamilton but I was not wicked, I was not vindictive, I did not take away his life, it was Vice President Aaron Burr who killed Hamilton, not me.”

Hurricanes also bring out the best qualities in human beings. It is a time when we become very benevolent and charitable by donating all the old clothes including dirty underwear and torn socks that have been attracting moth in closets and basements.

Hurricanes are not heartless, they are visionaries. Hurricanes that appeared two hundred and even three or more hundred years ago are helping today's economy. Back in the 15th thru 18th centuries, fleets loaded with gold, silver and copper went on the ocean floor by the strong winds and rough seas caused by hurricanes. Today, divers, explorers and investors are finding the priceless minerals artifacts on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Seas; They sell them making millions of dollars. You can even buy stocks to finance explorations of the Caribbean Sea in search of ancient vessels laden with valuables.

Do hurricanes help the ecology? Is there any environmental good from a hurricane? That's the questions I posed to Dr. Kennrick Lewis, a research fellow at one of America's largest industrial, military and media complexes.

“Admittedly, the high winds, heavy rains and tornados accompanying hurricanes cause death … damage to marshlands, coral reefs and other submarine environments.”

Is there anything positive you can tell us about hurricanes, facts that can uplift our spirits? “Hurricanes contribute to the global balance of heat and moisture in the atmosphere between tropical and temperate regions. Consider where Ivan, The Terrible, started and dissipated! It started in the South Atlantic east of Grenada and ended in eastern North America. Tropical heat and rain were transferred to cooler, drier regions. The winds and floods not only create new habitats, but they also disperse seeds and animals thereby increasing biodiversity.”

That's all what's nice about hurricanes! “While it might appear that hurricanes disrupt the stability of ecosystems and the environment, these disturbances have cleansing and rejuvenating effects on mangrove swamps and coastal wetlands, especially those polluted by human activity,” explains Dr. Lewis.

To read more about the silver lining of natural disasters like hurricanes, Dr. Lewis recommends you obtain The Silver Lining: The Benefits of Natural Disaster by Seth R. Rice, Princeton University Press, (2001.)