BBC corrospondent refused permission to Cayman, goes anyway

[Scubamedicjoe]

to give you all a update , yes US is sending aid in , I was with two big transport planes that flew in early this week with equipment and supplies , we wasnt allowed off the Tarmack and wasnt allow no pictures.
I can tell you it will many years before things will ever get close to normal.just imagine town , then image leveled thats what it looked like from the AIR.

 

[nipi]

There was a cruise ship in George Town harbour earlier today. Rumour has it that it's full of journos posing as tourists.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Sheesh! Take this for what its worth...

The cruise ship in harbour today is the Caribbean Princess. Princess cruise lines loaded 150 tons of supplies, some $50,000 worth. the cruise line bought them, the cruise line shipped them, and the plan was that the cruise line planned to dedicate all of their own tenders and many staff to hand load and unload all day to move these items ashore. I commend Princess Cruise Lines for the effort. No passengers will be allowed shore during this time.

This thread was ostensibly about the stifiling of press coverage of the damage to Cayman. It seems to be the case, at least on this side of the Atlantic, that any disaster which is not covered in the press does not generate much public relief support. In the local paper here in South Carolina the enitre coverage of Hurricane Ivan in Cayman was one paragraph: "After battering the Cayman Islands on Sunday, Ivan continued heading northwest at about 8 mph on Monday with wind speeds increasing up to 160 mph. The fierce storm is already blamed for at least 60 deaths"

Many people I've spoken to have offered help, but none ken of the state of affairs in Cayman. They depend upon the press to keep them informed, and it just hasn't been ahppeneing because the media is being kept out.

 

[H2Andy]

i think it's farily easy to guess why the Cayman authorities would not want their
island shown as a disaster area. Such images can be hard to overcome, and they
are of course afraid that such images would hurt financial investment and tourism, which are their mainstay.

It's an economic decision.

As to whether it's a right or wrong decision... i have my opinion, but frankly, nobody
cares to hear it

 

[northcoast_diver]

Well, as long as there are no independent reports I am going to assume that everything the government (any government) says is a lie.

They don't want anyone in to report how bad (or not) things really are then they must not really need anything else either.

If you want people to send help, you should expect to also accept independent observers.

My thoughts exactly.

I am worried about how badly the direct hit from the monster hurricane damaged their reef. For dive trips there that are already booked and paid for, there is no way around it. But from these divers, when they return, the word will eventually get out.

I hope the mermaid statue is still standing too. Of course, that is easiest to fix. The reef would not be easy to fix. Not without time. Years and years, depending on how bad of a hit it took.

 

[northcoast_diver]

i think it's farily easy to guess why the Cayman authorities would not want their
island shown as a disaster area. Such images can be hard to overcome, and they
are of course afraid that such images would hurt financial investment and tourism, which are their mainstay.

It's an economic decision.

As to whether it's a right or wrong decision... i have my opinion, but frankly, nobody
cares to hear it

Any damage above the water can be fixed in a year.

Any damage below the water would have to fix itself, and could take decades.