Word: gilberts
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Gilbert, in the jargon of meteorologists, was "well behaved" -- it stuck to a relatively predictable course and steady speed. Advances in computer models, satellite pictures and aerial measurements made Gilbert as closely monitored as a shuttle launch. But in a century marked by man's destructive capacity and technological hubris, Gilbert was a humbling reminder that man remains very much at the mercy of the elements. A giant hurricane was long overdue in the Gulf and the Caribbean. Others are destined to occur, and concern is growing that unrestricted development and population growth on fragile barrier islands and coastlands could...
After Hurricane Gilbert finished howling and hammering Jamaica last Monday, the lovely green-and-gold island had been transformed into a strew of twisted, tilted, ripped and battered debris. Kingston and outlying areas alike were an immense litter of downed trees, broken utility poles, tangles of electrical wires, a vista of demolished houses and blown tin roofs. The more the stunned Jamaicans meandered among the ruins, the worse things looked. Of the 2 1/2 million inhabitants, 500,000 were suddenly homeless; four-fifths of the nation's homes had been damaged or destroyed. Obstructions blocked and sealed off streets...
Poultry farmers, fishing fleets and cultivators of exotic flowers were wasted by Gilbert. Foreign-owned shoe and clothing factories that had been lured to Jamaica's tax-free zones suffered heavy water and structural damage. The unemployment rate, already 22%, was expected to soar as jobs vanished in the wind and rain. It was easy to see a metaphor of the island's economy in the plight of the smashed Kingston bank whose checks, in the aftermath, were suddenly caught up in a wind and scattered all over the downtown. "There were checks blowing around everywhere," retired Superstar Racing...
...Still, Gilbert has left behind a tangled and murky political situation. Only two weeks earlier, Jamaica's two primary political parties had launched their campaigns for an election in which Seaga is being challenged by former Prime Minister Michael N. Manley, the onetime socialist who presided over the economic decline that Seaga inherited. Manley's People's National Party had planned to warm up for the campaign and celebrate its 50th anniversary during an annual convention last week, but it was postponed because of the storm...
...reconstruction effort. Manley was quick to recognize that the political climate had changed radically overnight. Said he, after rushing to Kingston last week: "All politics are being put aside. There is not time to deal in partisan issues in this emergency." In the dispiriting climate of post-Gilbert Jamaica, a successful politician may find that victory has a bitter taste...