Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) and various community partners are planning a month of activities in September, to mark the Cayman Islands’ remarkable recovery from the passage of Hurricane Ivan 10 years ago.

Visual reminders of the storm’s devastating impact take centre stage on 6 September, when the National Gallery opens a month-long photography show titled “Ivan Remembered”. The Gallery has also planned a number of educational activities based on the exhibition which will continue throughout the month.

HMCI is also planning an exhibition that will shine a spotlight on the post- Ivan recovery by sharing pictures from all districts following the storm, alongside pictures from 2014 showing how well the Islands have recovered.

This will be located in the George Town public library for the first two weeks of the month—where it is expected to reach a large youth audience. It will then move to Government Administration Building for the remainder of September.

On Saturday 6 September and Sunday 7 September, churches have been invited to mark the anniversary with community lunches, and to share disaster preparedness literature with their congregations. Among those churches to have already agreed to take part are Elmslie, South Sound and Robert Young United Churches, as well as Boatswain Bay Presbyterian Church.

Building resilience in the event of severe weather will be the focus of a two-day free public symposium on 10 and 11 September, hosted by HMCI.

International guests include representatives from the United States National Hurricane Centre, the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency, the Insurance Association of the Caribbean. Hon. Winston Garraway, a senator from Grenada, which was one of the Caribbean countries to be worst hit by Ivan, will also address the conference.

Local officials and private sector representatives who played key roles during the storm and its aftermath will also speak.

In a session on the first day that focuses on youth, presenters will share their experience of the storm. Other topics include a role for youth in preparedness, forecasting then and now, economic consequences of hurricanes, and business continuity—lessons learned from Ivan. Members of the public are invited to attend the free sessions and will be able to submit questions via social media.

Throughout the month many presenters from the symposium and other persons who play a key part in the state national readiness will appear on local broadcast media. Cayman Islands Government TV will also produce a documentary on the storm to air on 11 September on Westar channel 20 and Logic channel 23.

In addition a number of local media such as Radio Cayman, the Cayman Compass, and the Cayman Reporter are planning commemorative programmes and publications.

The week before the anniversary local channel CITN/Cayman27 will re-air “36 Hours”, a 2005 documentary on Hurricane Ivan. It has also already begun a series of features every Thursday on the Daybreak show that will continue until 11 September. Meanwhile electricity provider Caribbean Utilities Company is also working a documentary on its response to the aftermath of the hurricane to be aired on CITN/Cayman 27 on 12 September at 7.30pm.

Also in the private sector Fosters Food Fair has already begun airing special hurricane recipes on its Cooking with Tanya segment. This will be available on CITN/Cayman27, CIGTV and social media.

Any interested community groups who wish to share their own planned observances for promotion on Cayman Islands Government TV and social media channels, should send their details to [email protected], tel. 945-4624, or use #ivanremembered on their social media accounts. The information will be shared with the public via the Facebook pages of HMCI and Government Information Services.