International Meteorologists in Martinique: A relief effort for the National Meteorological Center of Haiti

Haiti's major earthquake on January 12th, 2010 left the infrastructure of the Meteorological Service of Haiti nearly non-existent. With the tropical storm season fast approaching the loss of resources for alerting the general population as well as non-governmental organisations of any impending storms became a major concern. An international coalition took place this past spring to develop a forecasting program to respond to the urgent demand in Haiti. Météo-France in Martinique provided the physical site for this forecasting program. This was a logical decision since Martinique shares the same climate and language (French) as Haiti. Other countries such as Canada and Great-Britain also sent forecasters to help staff this weather center.