<B>Richard Wooding, CEO Phoenix Beverages ?Tremendous mentality during cyclones!?</B>

?Here, in Mauritius, we talk only about cyclones when they occur. Hence, before Gamede?s arrival, people asked me: ?Richard, are you ready? A cyclone is coming.? Then, I realised the sense of togetherness of people. Indeed, they would be talking to me about the practical aspect. They would ask questions such as: ?Is your house ready? Do you have enough bottles of water? Do you have a generator??

For me, preparations for a cyclone meant things such as closing windows properly. In fact, it was nowhere near it. I understood that it was issues such as if I had enough food, torch batteries, and so on.

I have friends with whom I regularly go fishing. I wanted to do so on Saturday and Sunday. They laughed at me and said: ?No way!?

Unfortunately my wife is abroad for a few days. So I am alone with my two children. And I was amazed by the number of phone calls I got from people to check if I was fine. I still remember when I left the office before the cyclone, it was class III. I live only 4km away. As soon as I got home, someone called to ask if I got home safely! Another thing I found fascinating was the fact that Mauritians tend to transform into experts. For example, a colleague asked me to come and sit down with him to show me how a cyclone works. According to me, a cyclone was something that goes round, it had bad weather and high winds. I neither realized the force of cyclone nor its size.