{"id":419863,"date":"2010-03-12T09:07:33","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T14:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalvoicesonline.org\/?p=127801"},"modified":"2010-03-12T09:07:33","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T14:07:33","slug":"guadeloupe-martinique-from-dry-season-to-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/419863","title":{"rendered":"Guadeloupe, Martinique: From dry season to drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

As some<\/a> posts on GV have shown <\/a>recently [Eng], the Caribbean has been going through a severe drought for the past few weeks.
\nIn the French West Indies, bloggers react to this natural disaster which influences their everyday life and affects even politics.<\/p>\n

From January to early June, the French West Indies are in “Car\u00eame” – French for the Catholic Lent <\/a>(a period of fasting and deprivation). The term extends to a season of the year <\/a>when the rain level is very low and the temperatures very high, a time notorious for the chronic lack of water and extreme dryness of the ground.<\/p>\n

In Martinique, Bondamanjak<\/em> announces <\/a>the peak of “Car\u00eame” with poetry [Fr]:<\/p>\n

\n

Le car\u00eame a mis son costume de saison blanche et s\u00e8che en Martinique. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Lent has put on its costume for a dry and white season in Martinique.<\/div>\n

…but doesn't hide the sizzling reality of the temperatures:<\/p>\n

\n

On note du 34\u00b0c dans la journ\u00e9e et … 29\u00b0C \u00e0 19h.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

93\u00b0F during the day and….84\u00b0F at 7 pm have been recorded.<\/div>\n

Bondamanjak <\/em>gives further examples of the disastrous consequences of this drought on the environment, when he shares an account of the surprise that Martinicans had this past weekend, when they witnessed a fire near the dome of the island's volcano, la Montagne Pel\u00e9e<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Les feux de brousailles se multiplient et depuis dimanche les pentes de la Montagne Pel\u00e9e, le plus haut sommet de l'\u00eele, sont l\u00e9ch\u00e9es par des flammmes. Les pompiers s'aff\u00e8rent pour s\u00e9curiser les habitations mais ne peuvent rien faire pour circonscrire l'incendie. Il faudrait un canadair mais il n'y en a pas dans le d\u00e9partement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bush fires are growing and since Sunday, the sides of the Mount Pel\u00e9e, the highest point of the island, have been burning with the flames. Firemen are busy trying to secure the houses but cannot do anything to contain the fire. The situation requires the use of a water bomber but there is none on the island.<\/div>\n

This situation has raised serious concerns among the Martinican population, prompting the Volcano and Earthquake Observatory of Martinique (OVSM) to release a report on Tuesday, in order to assuage people's worries. It was republished here<\/a> by Montray Kreyol<\/em> [Fr]:<\/p>\n

\n

Depuis dimanche, un incendie s\u2019est d\u00e9clar\u00e9 dans la zone de la coul\u00e9e de la Rivi\u00e8re Claire, sur le flanc sud-ouest de la montagne Pel\u00e9e. Entre dimanche soir et lundi soir, le feu s\u2019est propag\u00e9 vers les hauteurs jusqu\u2019aux d\u00f4mes, et ce matin, mardi 9 mars, des fum\u00e9es se d\u00e9gagent par endroit des zones calcin\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

Ce feu et les fum\u00e9es associ\u00e9es n\u2019ont aucun lien avec une quelconque activit\u00e9 volcanique.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Since Sunday, a fire has started in the area of the bed of Rivi\u00e8re Claire, on the southwestern side of Mount Pel\u00e9e. From Sunday night to Monday night, the fire spread towards the top as far as the domes, and this morning, Tuesday March 9th, smoke is coming up from the burnt-off areas.<\/p>\n

The fire and the related smoke were not caused by the volcano's activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Back in October 2009, the annual “Water Days<\/a>” were organized in Guadeloupe, in order to raise awareness on the importance of planning and managing water resources on the island. Now, Martinican Montray Kr\u00e9yol <\/em>questions this same issue in a post entitled: “About the water shortage<\/a>” [Fr]. The blogger concludes that successful management of water resources can only be the result of a strong political commitment.<\/p>\n

And speaking of politics, in Guadeloupe, ecological blogger and political figure Harry Durimel<\/em>, who is campaigning for the upcoming regional elections (March 14th and 21st)<\/a>, wrote a post entitled “the Blue Gold or how to save water<\/a>” [Fr], in which he lists all the tips to save water at home and outside, in this period of water shortage.<\/p>\n

Guadeloupeans have been dealing with this difficult situation in their everyday lives, explained here<\/a> [Fr] by blogger G\u00e9raldine en Guadeloupe<\/em>, who is rejoicing over the first drops of rain in a month:<\/p>\n

\n

Youpi, il a plu : \u00e7a fait pratiquement plus d'un mois que nous n'avons pas eu de pluies cons\u00e9quentes. Ajoutez \u00e0 \u00e7a que la saison des pluies cette ann\u00e9e a \u00e9t\u00e9 particuli\u00e8rement s\u00e8che et vous avez une Guadeloupe grill\u00e9e par le soleil. La terre craque, les plantes et pelouses sont jaunes et les escargots et grenouilles ont disparues. Du coup, on commence \u00e0 parler de restrictions :<\/p>\n

– interdiction d'arroser les pelouses
\n– ne laver les voitures que dans les stations de lavage
\n– ne pas remplir les piscines
\n…
\nOn commence \u00e0 craindre des coupures tournantes sur le r\u00e9seau.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, it rained: it has been more than a month without any significant rain. Besides, the rainy season was very dry this year, so Guadeloupe looks all burnt up by the sun. The ground is cracking up, plants and lawns are all yellow and snails and frogs have disappeared. Thus, people start talking about restrictions:<\/p>\n

-it is forbidden to water the lawns
\n-to wash the cars in the car washes
\n-to fill up the swimming-pools
\n….
\nWe are now fearing rolling water cuts on the supply network.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As some posts on GV have shown recently [Eng], the Caribbean has been going through a severe drought for the past few weeks. In the French West Indies, bloggers react to this natural disaster which influences their everyday life and affects even politics. From January to early June, the French West Indies are in “Car\u00eame” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}