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From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <o.crepin-leblond@ic.ac.uk> To: Randy Bush <randy@psg.com> CC: Steven Huter <sghuter@psg.com> Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 18:28:32 +0100 Hello Randy and Steve, I thought I'd pass this on to you since it deals with International connectivity. Antigua & Barbuda only recently got full internet connectivity. And once again, Internet is proving itself in emergency situations. While telephone lines etc. are all down and overloaded, and there are reports that 60 percent of the buildings have been damaged, the new Internet link is proving a lifeline with the outside world. I'll spare any more words. Feel free to pass this on to whoever else this may be of interest and use to. Aid agencies, perhaps ? Alan Scholl is the administrator of the node mail.CandW.ag. I've kept all headers intact FYI. All the best, Olivier --- Forwarded mail from Alan Scholl <scholla@mail.CandW.ag> >From scholla@mail.CandW.ag Thu Sep 7 18:14:14 1995 Received: from romeo.ic.ac.uk by cscmgb.cc.ic.ac.uk (940816.SGI.8.6.9/4.0) id SAA24671; Thu, 7 Sep 1995 18:14:13 +0100 Received: from mail.candw.ag (actually host 205.160.233.11) by romeo.ic.ac.uk with SMTP (PP); Thu, 7 Sep 1995 18:13:31 +0100 Received: from server1 (server1.candw.ag) by mail.candw.ag (5.x/SMI-SVR4) id AA14821; Thu, 7 Sep 1995 13:12:10 +0400 Received: by server1 (5.x) id AA27265; Thu, 7 Sep 1995 13:07:58 +0400 Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 13:07:58 +0400 (GMT) From: Alan Scholl <scholla@mail.CandW.ag> To: ic00@jove.acs.unt.edu, mba@capecod.net, mwallin@is.dal.ca, o.crepin-leblond@ic.ac.uk, JNanaton@aol.com, bniessen@axionet.com, f.m.jacobs@reading.ac.uk, seang@newbridge.com, 76417.1461@compuserver.com, frh@caribsurf.com, WT3Q@aol.com, dave.colvin@uwoadmin.uwo.ca, mfarqu01@fiu.edu, hhenry@fdic.gov, victor@freenet.scri.fsu.edu, steve.lear@badc.ssil.com, dm103r@nih.gov, 76503.2645@compuserver.com, henry@umdng.edu, chchowse@mdcc.edu, N3ADL@aol.com, Christopher Masson <masonc@mail.CandW.ag>, TIMOTHY MALLALIEU <mallalieut@mail.CandW.ag>, bluffman@cablelink.net, doseedo@village.ios.com, matthega@tuns.ca, douglasd@odin.mda.uth.tmc.edu, Reggaejamz@aol.com, explorer@internet.com, FNNF84A@prodigy.com, MATTHEWD@dar2.ic.gc.ca, croger@csc.hq.cis.com, judge@ldd.net Subject: HURRICANE LUIS Message-Id: <Pine.SOL.3.91.950907125749.27200B-100000@server1.candw.ag> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII HI All, THE FOLLOWING IS A GENERIC MESSAGE TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND WELL WISHERS. DUE TO THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF MESSAGES AND REQUESTS THAT I HAVE RECEIVED I THINK WAS THE QUICKEST WAY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE ASAP. AS THINGS GET A LITTLE LESS HECTIC I WILL AGAIN BEGIN TO RESPOND TO ALL PERSONAL MESSAGES. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO REQUESTED SPECIFIC INFORMATION REGARING LOVED ONES HERE AS SOON AS I GET ANY INFO I WILL RELAY THEM BACK TO YOU SO BE A LITTLE PATIENT AS MOST OF THE PHONES ARE NOT WORKING... Hurricane Luis hit Antigua VERY HARD. I took a drive around certain parts of the island and there is NOT one single area that was left untouched. Many rooftops are GONE, if the roof is still there then most or at least half of the galvanized or tiles are missing! About 1 in 15 houses have been totally destroyed (my estimate). EVERYBODY has water damage to some extent, some greater than others. Everywhere there are utility poles down, line transformers were unbolted and are on the ground. There is cable and poles scattered across every road. Some fell on houses as well. So in ALL areas there is NO electricity at all. Most areas are without telephone although some including mine were working up to this morning. The century old trees in Government House have been felled and about 50% of the wooden fence was blown away. The house itself was damaged (the roof). The cable TV company (CTV) lost its main satellite dish and the other two no longer have their full mesh. Most of the buildings in St. Johns have sustained heavy damage some more than others. Spring Gardens Moravian church lost its beautiful stained glass structure and most of its roof. There were 2 deaths reported but I have yet to officiallly confirm this number. I also heard that the hospital was severely damaged but I have not been near there. Heritage Quay (shopping center) roof came off and landed on St.Mary's St, the debris was scattered for about 100 feet up the street. There were reports of looting in the middle of the storm YES during the storm and the Defence Force were guading the whole of St. Johns. there is also a curfew for St. Johns from 6pm to 6 am. The beaches were pounded with very heavy surf and quite a lot of erosion has taken place. If any of you knows Fort James, the road to get there no longer exists, it has been washed away. McKinnons swamp turned into a river delta and water flowed from Marina Bay down to Sandhaven hotel as it more of less reunited itself with the sea. There are unconfirmed reports that Galley Bay and pineapple Beach sustained catastrophic damage. Sandals' dining room on the sea now has about 2 feet of sand and the wall by the sea is no longer in existence. "Millers by the Sea" was taken away and only the foundation remains. Rex Halcyon was also reported to have systainedextreme damage but as I did not see it myself I cannot elaborate. I can go on but as I write this I myself are beginning to relive those HORRIFIC 48 hours of the storm. My family and ou property were among the chosen few that were spared. We got minimal damage to our roof but water came in. For us it was more of mental anguish and stress. I was in the same clothes for almost 3 days with little or no food as fright alone quenched my hunger and thirst. It was an experience I hope I never have to go through again. Frankly, I was SCARED TO DEATH. The power of wind at 140mph (gusts of 170) is undescribable. The colosest I can come to describing it is, imagine being trapped in a building, you CANNOT leave, there is about 6 freight trains passing continuously, 4 Jumbo Jets, 2 Concordes landing on the roof every 5 minutes plus more. ABSOLUTELY NO SLEEP for the entire period as you never know what room you may have to run to if the roof goes, it is wet everywhere, the floor, your bed the chairs, the couch EVERYTHING is WET and damp and MUGGY. Well that is my piece so far. As more information comes by me I will post it on the net. I can offer to pass on Health and Welfare information in a limited capacity as most phones are DOWN. My email is at the head of this message. If you dont get a response, it is not that I haveignored you it is that I cannot get through to your family and friends. My mailbox is already at the 54 message mark so there may also be a bit of a backlog. All in all I am fine and at work keeping the internet and computers going so life is not all that bad. Hey, I could have been dead! Alan Scholl --- End of forwarded message from Alan Scholl <scholla@mail.CandW.ag> -- Olivier M.J. Crepin-Leblond, Digital Comms. Section, Elec. Eng. Department Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BT, UK <foobar@ic.ac.uk> Mobile (GMT): +44 (0)956 84 111 3 <foobar@gih.co.uk>
