THANKFUL TO OVERCOME NATURE’S CHALLENGES

Nature brought two major challenges to Martinique during 2007 and the island survived both potential disasters without suffering wide scale long-term damage. The people of Martinique can greet the New Year with gratitude and optimism—the tourist industry is eager to welcome visitors after overcoming threats from a frightening tropical hurricane and a major earthquake that both narrowly missed the island less than four months apart.

Hurricane Dean passed just south of the island in the channel between Martinique and St. Lucia in the early morning hours of Friday, August 17. The huge storm was a Category 2 hurricane at this time so Martinique was spared its full fury. The international airport briefly closed, but reopened by noon the following day. All 160 hotels and resorts remained open despite some cosmetic damage, mostly to landscaping.

Agriculture was less fortunate—virtually 100% of the year’s banana crop was lost. Sadly, two people on Martinique lost their lives due to storm. But Martinique’s damages and casualties were small compared to the devastation brought by Hurricane Dean as it grew to a massive Cat 5 storm a few days later, killing dozens of victims and causing billions of dollars in losses as it barreled across the Caribbean and into the Gulf of Mexico before making two separate landfalls along the coast of Mexico.

In the final days of November, as the end of hurricane season approached, a different natural phenomenon rocked Martinique—a rare, gigantic earthquake shook the entire island at approximately 3PM on November 29. Luckily, the epicenter was 90 miles beneath the surface of the Caribbean and the epicenter was about 13 miles northwest of the closest point to Martinique (25 miles NW of Fort de France.)

The temblor registered 7.3 or 7.4 on most seismic scales—powerful enough to be a major catastrophe if it had struck on land. Several small buildings collapsed and about one-third of the power on the island was knocked out. But only one death—due to a heart attack--was recorded. Around 100 people required medical assistance. Most fortunately of all, there was no tsunami. The experience was terrifying, but the aftershocks soon passed.

So the people of Martinique can look back on 2007 and count their blessings. Martinicans look forward to sharing their good fortune and the beauty of their island with visitors in the year ahead. If you would like more information regarding tourism and attractive travel packages, please contact the Martinique Promotion Bureau/Martinique Tourism Authority USA at info@martinique.org or visit www.martinique.org