Cancún, Q.R.— The damage caused by hurricanes such as Gilberto, in September 1988, and Wilma, in October 2005, forced the hotel industry in Quintana Roo, especially in Cancún, to establish protocols to increase the protection of their guests and of its infrastructure, minimizing damage, although there are still areas of opportunity.
In June of each year, at the beginning of the hurricane season, the lodging centers attached to the Hotel Associations of Cancún, Puerto Morelos, Isla Mujeres and Riviera Maya—which total more than 80 thousand rooms in more than 200 accommodations—install their internal civil protection committees, in coordination with municipal authorities.
There are action protocols, updated every year, to act before, during and after a cyclone hits, from the warning of a tropical storm to its formation as a hurricane, regardless of its category.
These manuals contemplate the review of facilities and training of personnel, so that they know how to provide first aid and how to act in the event of a meteorological phenomenon.
Each hotel must sign agreements with schools—public or private—for the provision of shelters in the city and with transporters, both in case they have to evacuate their guests and employees.
Particularly in the case of Cancun, whose hotel zone is located between the sea and the Nichupté Lagoon System, hotels are required to have this type of shelters, in addition to enabling their own shelters in their buildings, which must have approval by the municipal Civil Protection Directorate. Some hotels are even certified as self-shelters up to category 3.
It is also established that guests must be notified of the emergence of a tropical storm likely to evolve into a hurricane and its escalation, in accordance with the alert system blue-minimal danger, green-low danger, yellow-moderate, orange-high, red-maximum.
According to the information they officially receive, 72 hours in advance of the probable impact, hotels must be ready, with shelters set up, their guests notified and prepared for a probable evacuation, depending on the evolution of the meteorological phenomenon and under indications from the State Coordination of Civil Protection. In Cancun alone, the Internal Protocol of the Hotel Association – which has a Security and Planning advisor – is designed to mobilize more than 40 thousand guests.
Source: El Universal
