‘The Rough Season’ is coming

A NEW Caribbean audio soap opera, which promises to be filled with drama and intrigue, will soon be hitting the TT airways. However, the aim of this radio “novela” is not purely entertainment but the education of the public through the use of drama.

The soap opera which is entitled “The Rough Season” will focus on disaster reduction issues in the Caribbean region addressing recurrent natural hazards such as floods, hurricanes, storms, landslides as well as food security crisis.

On Monday an agreement for the financing of the broadcast was signed between Dexter Bishop, Acting High Commissioner of Canada and Dr Ruben Silie Valdez, Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).

Bishop said that the Canadian government donated $80,000 to the project because it recognised “the fragility of the Caribbean region” in regards to natural disasters and the need to prepare for the future.

Valdez said that he was confident that the programme’s material would equip the listening audience with the information that was relevant to disaster preparedness.

The soap opera which has already begun airing on Radio Toco consists of ten episodes each 15 minutes long. Each story line contains a number of key sub topics including public health, community early warning systems, climate change, building codes and community empowerment. The material was developed at the average reading level to ensure maximum understanding and listenership.

Based on the highly successful radio ‘novelas’ of Central America, the audio soap opera was developed for the Caribbean region by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in collaboration with other agencies.

Although the stories were first aired in Latin America, Luis Carpio, director of the Association of Caribbean States, was careful to mention that the material which will be aired locally was not a mere translation of the stories used in Latin America into English. Carpio said that the soap opera was very culture specific and incorporated several of the elements that were unique to the English-speaking Caribbean. The ACS is in the process of negotiating with several radio stations to broadcast the soap opera and is hopeful that it can secure three other stations to do the job.

While the ACS’s main target medium is radio, other possible uses of the medium include school’s broadcasting, educational workshops and training activities by disaster management agencies, community and youth and religious groups.

Trinidad and Tobago is the pilot project for the broadcast of the soap opera as there are plans to broadcast the soap opera throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. The dissemination of information about disaster preparedness has become increasingly critical given the deadly and destructive hurricane seasons the Caribbean region has experienced in recent times. In 2004 Grenada was assaulted by Category three, hurricane Ivan, 39 people lost their lives and several homes and schools were destroyed. The island’s agriculture and tourism sectors were hit hardest The country is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Ivan.

This year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that “there is a very active hurricane season looming.” It has predicted 13-16 named storms with eight to ten of these becoming hurricanes, of these, four to six, could become major hurricanes of Category three strength or higher.

The names of the Atlantic tropical storms for this year are: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, Florence, Gordon, Helene, Isaac, Joyce, Kirk, Leslie, Micheal, Nadine, Oscar, Patty, Rafael, Sandy, Tony, Valerie and William.

According to the National Climatic Data Centre’s web site, in 2005 there was a record 27 named storms, this is the most named storms in a single season, breaking the old record of 21 named storms set in 1933. Fourteen hurricanes were formed during the 2005 season, this is the most hurricanes in a single season, breaking the old record of 12 hurricanes set in 1969. Seven major (Category three or high on the Saffir-Simpson scale) hurricanes formed during the 2005 season, this ties the season record for major hurricanes, first set in 1950.

Three category five hurricanes formed during the 2005 season (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma). This is the most category five hurricanes recorded in a single season, breaking the old record of two category five hurricanes set in 1960 and 1961.

Seven named storms made the United States landfall during 2005 (Arlene, Cindy, Dennis, Katrina, Rita, Tammy and Wilma). This puts the 2005 season in a tie for second place for land falling storms behind the 1916 and 2004 seasons where eight named storms made landfall. An eighth storm brushed the coast of North Carolina in 2005, but did not make an official landfall.

The 2005 season was the most destructive for United States land falling storms, largely due to Hurricane Katrina. Damage estimates for the 2005 season are over $100 billion.