Tonight the news is all about Hurricane Earl - we'll show you how the storm itself looked, and you'll see the aftermath, but first we go to what the situation is now with the assessment of damages and the current prognosis. We start with the tourism sector - which has to deal with the short term, meaning its present guests, and the medium term, meaning how long will it take for tourism services to be fully restored. At today's press conference, Tourism Director Karen Bevans gave an outline:..
Karen Bevans, Director of Tourism
"In looking at the preliminary assessment and our biggest tourism destination, San Pedro, we had significant damage when it comes to the piers and docking facilities. It is estimated so far that at least 90% of all piers and docking facilities have been destroyed. The dive shops that are on the piers were also destroyed. We have significant beach erosion and many fallen trees and debris. Fortunately the accommodations received minimal damages and we are hoping that coordination with them, working with the stakeholders, we can get the accommodations back in order as soon as next week. In talking with some of the stakeholders, the reports are, once the human resources and 
the utilities are back in order, operations will resume as normal. In Belize City, we experienced similar damages when it comes to the piers and docking facilities. Two of our major resorts in Belize received some structural damages, namely the Radisson and the Ramada. The Biltmore is in good condition and operational at this time. When it comes to the airlifts, our airport is in good condition, no problems reported at the airport, no downtime, in fact the airport is now operational. The Fort Street Tourism Village, flooding and debris, cleaning up has commenced and that village should be ready on Tuesday for the next cruise ship arrival. The archaeological sites, Lamani and Altun Ha received damages. The ATM and Barton Creek because of accessibility, no assessment done but we believed there are some damages in those areas as well. In the north and south, minimal damage reported so far, but we continue this afternoon our contact with the stake holders and more information will be made available as we continue our assessments."
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