AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Weather Tropical Storms & Hurricanes St. Mathews Med Students

Hi, I heard from my sister this afternoon.
She said that the med students are in Belize staying in a hotel, and that everyone is OK. Not to worry! And that many are flying into the US tomorrow morning.(God willing)
Thank God the worries are over.

I just hope St. Mathews learned from this terrible experience; and I really hope that next time, if there is a next time (hopefully not), they evacuate the students from the island before a hurricane strikes.
I mean, we trust St. Mathews with our sisters, brothers, girlfriends, etc., and in a way St. Mathews is responsible for the students.
All I'm saying is that St. Mathews needs to act faster in desperate times because too many families trust and rely on the Med School to take care of our loved ones.
Anyways, I am just so very thankful to God that everyone is safe!

If they evacuated every time there was a tropical storm they would be leaving every week. This storm turned into a hurracane within hours and no one could evacuate. You would have to be there to realize how it is.

Yes, I agree that this one blew up very fast, but I was employed by St. Matthew's during Mitch and there was ABSOLUTELY NO coherent planning made or even attempted on behalf of the students OR faculty. In fact, the admisnistration had a meeting for both Faculty and Students where they told us all that reservations had been booked for each of us and our dependents to Miami off the island. When some of us went to the Travel Agent to claim our "reservations" we found to our horror that they hadn't been made at all! So it would seem that the coordinated plan that we were promised after the Mitch debacle didn't come about, after all. Unfortunately, this is exactly what I would have suspected, since we (i.e. all Faculty) were all made many promises that were never kept by the folks running the show. Although it isn't very surprising to those of us who chose to sever our association with the school and move on in Academics (and also maybe to those who chose to stay), I can say adamantly that I take no pleasure in this latest demonstration of their typical state of unpreparedness in the face of an emergency. This latest event makes it twice now that they've dropped the ball under these sorts of emergency conditions- what will it take for them to realize that their peoples' lives (both Faculty and student) are utterly dependent on their planning (or lack thereof)? I think that they should have standing arrangements to charter large numbers of Cessnas for emergency flights off the island to the Int. Airport and then keep a 727 on standy charter there for the students and Faculty.

while at it.. why not have a weather expert on call 24/7 and deploy some sensors in the atlantic to monitor the changing patterns of tropical storms.. Give me a break.. 727 haha that was funny

Get a grip. You might as well move to snow white land to expect this. Where do you expect to get the money for all these planes that are waiting in limbo? From alumni? There wasn't enough time to even have a meeting before this hit. Aren't these students and faculty members decision making adults?Maybe next time they make their own reservations,or pin a note to their shirt and send them to the airport.It just seems to us you left on a bad note and feel this is the time to release your anger. WRONG AGAIN!!!!!This is a medical school not a day care. These people have gone thru a lot and have done a great job in keeping everyone safe. We say THANKS for a job well done.

To tell you the truth St. Matthews did do a terrible job at handling this crisis. I tracked this situation when Keith was only a storm. On their website it says they are booking flights for the students, but that is not the fact. The students were kept in the dark of what was to happen tomorrow. They just found out they are on their own in finding a flight back home. I just got off the phone with my girlfriend about this subject.
When this whole thing started I was talking with my girlfriend when Keith was a storm and then she told me that they would leave the island if the hurricane increased to category 2. I asked her how they were going to get off and she was told the Belize army would come with boats to get them. So I wasn't too worried, then I thought to myself would that be too late. And it was. San Pedro was hit very hard, I tracked all the satellite pictures for updates. Then I checked St. Matthews website and on it someone said it was not necessary for an evacuation. This angered me because the island was a disaster area. I have kept my mouth shut and just gave them the benefit of the doubt. But from all the evidence St. Matthews did not do a very good job. The only good preparation they did was have the students buy plane tickets ahead of time to get off the island. But they didn't get to use it. Other than that, they did terrible. Every school, grade school to grad. school have some kind of emergency plan. I hope that they will come up with a plan for this kind of situation in the future.

you people that say they should have known are just plain wrong. you are monday morning quarterbacking. at 2pm that day, everything was normal. by 8 it was nearing hell.

we've seen a lot of storms and they just don't come up that fast. usually.

the world was caught unawares. if you knew better than you are a genius, and give the rest of the world a break.

[This message has been edited by Marty (edited 10-04-2000).]

i agree with everyone who says the school didnt help out the students. many students on the island didnt have phone connections or televisions so werent even aware that a hurricane was coming and almost drowned. saturday morning there was a posting that there was a tropical storm coming and nothing to worry about. smu president jeffrey sersland assured students that they are safe and he recommended students not leave the island. this is despite the fact that the US embassy told us to leave the island. jeffrey sersland's reply was that they were playing it too conservative. playing what too conservative? ourlives? i understand that it may have been too late to evacuate but at least warn the students. i know students who almost drowned because they believed they were safe at their homes due to what the school told them.with all the hurricane evacuation planning we were told about during orientation i wish some of it would have taken effect. also what happened at the belize city airport was a joke.there was no smu faculty in sight.the students had to bond together in a time of need.