By Francis Quamina Farrier
THE recent destruction of many areas in sister CARICOM countries, Jamaica, Grenada, Carriacou and St. Vincent by Hurricane Beryl, should be a sad reminder to Guyanese just how fortunate they are in terms of whether related disasters.
Guyana is blessed to be away from the hurricane path. Over the decades, Guyanese have received reports of the terrible sufferings of those who have endured Mother Nature’s wrath of powerful storms and hurricanes. Such things do not happen in Beautiful Guyana. Winds that are little stronger than usual, or thunder that is somewhat louder than usual, are about all mother nature does to us.
The most recent hurricane in the Caribbean, Hurricane Beryl was very powerful and classified as a category 4, a very powerful storm. Such storms usually destroy property, including buildings, vehicles, boats, and even livestock. Services such as electricity and telephone are sometimes terribly damaged and become non-operational for a while until they are repaired. At times, the authorities declare a state of emergency to ensure all repairs are done expeditiously and to bring the affected society back to normalcy as soon as possible.

Many, especially children, are sometimes traumatised by these negative forces of nature, and it is for parents and other adults, such as teachers, to help calm them and give them a sense of safety. This most recent hurricane has been given the name Beryl, and has taken the lives of eleven persons, with dozens suffering injuries. The final death toll figure and the number of persons injured are still being tabulated.

If one were to look for a redeeming side of this most recent hurricane in the Caribbean, it would be that the death toll was smaller than some of the past hurricanes in the Region. Nonetheless, that is poor consolation for the loved ones of those who perished. We offer them our condolences. The main economies of all affected countries are tourism based, and one can imagine the effects of Hurricane Beryl.

As I write this feature article, I am increasingly inclined to find out the source of the storm itself and its name. The name Beryl is Greek in origin. Beryl is also the name of a gemstone. Now, Beryl is down in history as a devasting Caribbean Hurricane in 2024. Looking back well over a century to 1900, we find that a powerful hurricane slammed the city of Galveston in the United States. Nothing of the sort had happened in British Guiana. Nearly 20 years later, the Atlantic Gulf had a powerful hurricane, but nothing like that had occurred in British Guiana. On Labour Day 1935, the Florida Keys – a string of beautiful islands ‘hanging’ from Miami in a southern direction – had the frightening experience of a terrible hurricane.

There was a hurricane in New England in the northeastern area of the USA in 1938. Many of us would recall hearing of hurricane Gilbert in 1988, Hugo in 1989, Andrew in 1992, Mitch in 1998, Floyd in 1999, Keith in 2000, and the double whammy Charley and Ivan in 2004. In all of those incidents, Guyana was not affected. Aren’t we living in a really blessed country?! Let’s thank Mother Nature.