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Floods Cause
Major Damage Over the Weekend Israeli Firm To
Finish Female Cop Awarded New Convention Center U.S.
Embassy Closed Today Damage Over the Weekend According to figures compiled by the National Commission for the Prevention of Risks and Attention to Emergencies (CNE), the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, and other government institutions, this year’s rainy season has so far caused over $38 million in damages nationwide. The estimates do not take into account damage caused by heavy rains that fell over the course of the last several days in the Central Valley and the North Pacific, which provoked flooding and mudslides that destroyed several houses and left six people missing, local newspapers reported. Residents on the Isla de Chira in the Gulf of Nicoya were terrified last Thursday by the sudden appearance of a fierce gale that uprooted trees, destroyed a church and caused major damage to at least seven homes. Although members of the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) don’t know for sure what caused the rare atmospheric phenomenon, they haven’t ruled out the possibility that the strong winds may have been caused by a small tornado. On Friday, four families lost their homes to flooding in Río Chiquito de Tilarán in Guanacaste, where authorities were forced to evacuate 50 residents. The houses of another three families were destroyed in Ujarrás Cartago, and in La Florencía de Guatuso, five homes were completely inundated by flooding while several other houses suffered partial damage. The recent wave of heavy rains took its most tragic toll in Orosi de Paraíso, also in Cartago, where six people, including two children, have been missing since Saturday when a major mudslide wiped out 13 homes and forced the evacuation of approximately 100 local residents. Officials from IMN have warned that the recent rainfalls, normal for this time of year, will most likely continue through September and into October. Check tomorrow's Tico Times Daily Page for more information. Israeli Firm To Finish Days
after the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) announced that GMB, the
local affiliate of U.S. multinational IBM, would install the routers
necessary to provide the country’s first 100,000 low-cost, high-speed
Internet connections (TT Daily Aug. 29), ICE kept the good news
coming. The
Israeli firm ECI Telecom will handle the final part of the project,
installing more than 84,000 Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) access ports,
reported the daily La República. ECI
Telecom competed against ALCATEL, Samsung, Siemens, Lucent, NEC, GBM, and Nissho Iwai Huwa for the
rights to install the access ports. ICE
officials were ready to go with Japanese firm Nissho’s offer, which was by
far the most cost-efficient at $12.8 million. However, a later study
revealed that the Japanese technology would not be fully compatible with
ICE’s other components. ECI’s
offer to provide access ports for $18.3 million had the best combination
of cost and appropriate technology. “It’s
not completely decided yet. We still have to present the offer to the
directors and justify our decision,” Alvaro Retana, sub-manager of ICE’s
Telecommunications branch, explained. “After that they’ll ratify the
purchase, decide to study it or reject it.” Directors will vote next
Tuesday. The
network is expected to be fully operational in the entire San José metro
area in about a year. The service will then begin gradually expanding
throughout the country. It is expected to take two additional years before
the entire country is connected. It is
still not possible to sign up for service, but an ICE press spokeswoman
told The Tico Times this week that a waiting list could possibly be
created by early next year. Female Cop Awarded Strong, intrepid, brave,
disciplined, and a loving mother were just a few of the adjectives used to
describe Heilyn Largaespada, this year’s winner of the Security Ministry’s
Pancha Carrasco Police Women’s Excellence Award, reported the daily Al
Día. Largaespada, a
single-mother of two and native of the northwestern province of
Guanacaste, was given the award during last week’s Women Police Officers’
Summit at San José’s Melico Salazar Theater in San José. “She’s a fighter, she’s
a caring mother and a good advice-giver,” Security Vice-Minister Ana
Helena Chacón explained. “She serves as an example to all women, she’s
proven that through hard work and dedication they can make it past
adversity.” Largaespada’s life
changed dramatically five years ago after she separated from her husband.
On her own financially, she had to make a living and care of her sons,
John, 10, and Jason, 6. She decided to live her life-long dream of serving
as a police officer. “I’ve always been a
strong woman and have, since I was little, been interested in being
involved in police work,” Laragespada explained. The award is named after Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rica’s first military woman. During Costa Rica’s war to repel U.S. invader William Walker and his Filibusteros in the 1850s, Carrasco helped as a medic. Carrasco’s strength and determination are alive today in Largaespada and the other 720 women who serve as part of the country’s police force. New Convention Center As of next month, Costa Rica will have a new convention center – the 4,000-square-meter Multiferias Roc complex in the western San José suburb of Escazú. The center will host the country’s first Intercontinental Commerce Fair in December, reported the daily La República. Multiferias Roc is 200 meters west of Multiplaza Mall in
Guachipelín de Escazú and will have parking for 1,000 cars. The complex
will be used for several upcoming seminars and concerts. The new center is partially financed by the Chamber of
Taiwanese Business in Costa Rica, the Economy Ministry and the Taiwanese
Foreign Ministry. These groups will also organize the Intercontinental
Commerce Fair Dec. 5-24. The event will showcase products from nations that include
Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, Jamaica, Brazil. Organizers expect the event will
feature 300 shops and 14 international food stands. Pablo Li of the Chamber of Taiwanese Business in Costa Rica
expects the event will expose Christmas shoppers to a wide-variety of
products from abroad. The event will also showcase the newest advances in
technology. Cars, electrical appliances, and plane tickets to Taipei and
Hong Kong will be raffled, and cultural events staged, such as the
traditional Chinese Dragon Dance and fireworks exhibitions.
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