The floods of 2008 are on their way to the Belize District after devastating Cayo. What has happened in the Toledo District is anyone’s guess. Of course very few people are prepared to publicly discuss the reason for this devastation. In a few words, it’s haphazard and unplanned development!
I’m certainly not opposed to development. Very few people would be willing to go back to an era without electricity, without cars and roads, without mechanized farming, but one of the major problems of modern commerce is a very old human problem. It’s called greed! When we take environmental factors into consideration, it costs money. This translates into reduced profits. So, the Town Council says, “Its okay to build here.” They are looking at the potential property taxes. The farmer clears all the bush, including the big trees – more room for cash crops. The highway builders change the drainage patterns with culverts to protect the good roads that have been demanded by people moving into newly developed areas. And then, things like this happen!
I wonder just how many people planning development in a previously sparsely developed area have contacted the Belize Meteorological Department to ask them about weather patterns, specifically rainfall, in the area they plan to develop. I could be wrong, but my money says “few or none.” The most telling comment on Channel 7’s Monday night news was a woman who said that the only similar flood that she ever saw was in 1961, Hurricane Hattie.
Floods have been commonplace in Belizean history. When I lived along the Stann Creek Valley Road during the 1970’s, we had floods every year. Not one of them ever threatened our house, which was built on cement posts. The water level between our house and Mile 4 could get as high as a couple of feet. That could be a bit of a problem for drivers of small vehicles. If I saw a ¼ mile stretch of high water I would simply remove my fan belt and reinstall it on the other side! This prevented the fan from throwing water onto the distributor and plug wires!
For the rest of us, those floods could be fun! My wife and I, in our 20’s, would run up and down on the road in anywhere from 3" to a half a foot of water. On one occasion, American and Canadian visitors along with Peace Corps volunteers joined us in a barefoot game of touch football on the flooded road!
Yes, the flood could be an inconvenience at times. In 1979, it rained for three solid weeks, the last week of November through the first two weeks of December! My son Roscoe was born in the old Belize City Hospital. The Hummingbird was closed and the only way to fly was standby. A couple of friends offered me a ride on their boat. We almost got killed, but that is another story!
In all of these floods, no lives were lost and no property was destroyed. Some crops were lost, but most farmers planned for these floods. Many farmers actually depended on the floods to deposit silt renewing soil for the next year. As road construction accelerated during the late 70"s I found myself wondering about how the drainage systems being installed to protect the new roads would compromise soil fertility.
It is far easier to avoid environmental disasters by not creating the conditions for them in the first place than by trying to fix the problem later. What’s done is, unfortunately done, but steps should be taken to minimize some of the problems “development” has created for people and certainly policies need to be established so that we don’t continue with the same laissez faire, money first attitudes. As much natural growth as it is possible to keep on farms, needs to be kept, especially large trees. Natural rain forest absorbs rainfall and prevents the kind of runoff that contributes to soil erosion as well as to out of control flooding. And by the way, when you cut it down, it will not regenerate the same way for 400 years! For government to not go this route, would be foolish indeed. This kind of problem will get worse if neglected, not better.
Let’s not even talk about what is happening in the ghettoes of the south side! Fixing this doesn’t even appear to be on government’s agenda! So if that’s the case, why did people even go to the polls on February 7th last year?
As far ageing goes, well next year I’m going to get a flu shot before the flu season begins. I have been riding my bicycle through the rain in shorts and slippers with a raincoat on top. The theory is that the shorts and the legs below will dry faster than pants. It worked too, when I was younger. Now I’m paying for it in spades! This is one of those flues where everything hurts, knees, hips, etc. Somehow though, I rarely seem to get a flu that kills my appetite too. So, I hurt and I don’t stop eating. You have to know what happens then.
Kudos to Mose Hyde for what he said on WUB this morning, Wednesday, October 22. I wish he didn’t have to say it but it does seem as though most Belizeans don’t have the stomach for a long, serious fight. We are ¾ of a year into the new administration and almost all the issues that became the reasons for that change have simply been ditched, from what I can see! There has been no attempt to go after all the money that has been stolen, and please don’t tell me that the property of those who are implicated can’t be seized. If you don’t pay property taxes, sometimes totaling less that $100.00, see how fast a distress warrant is issued for your possessions.
One more thing…..politicians learn fast. Once the war is over they are in a hurry to decommission the soldiers. If I’m not being any more specific, that’s because I don’t care to be at this time, but don’t ever think that because I wear glasses I can’t see! That will be your mistake!