British Expats Are Encouraged to Register

Dear Nica Times:

This is an open letter to the British community in Nicaragua: Nowadays, people are traveling more and further and in different ways than ever before and a lot of these people decide to stay longer than the normal short visit. It is not difficult to understand why such people would want to stay for longer in Nicaragua.

However, events in recent years (hurricanes and tsunamis) demonstrate that a crisis can happen in even the most exotic location. The British Embassy would, therefore, like to encourage all British national residents in Nicaragua and those traveling for a short stay to register their contact details with us.

The benefits of such registration are that if a major catastrophe occurs, we’ll have an instant record of your details so we can contact you to make sure you’re OK and provide advice. If family and friends need to get in touch, we can help them find you. Registration is easy and can be done in 2 ways:

1) Register online through our new LOCATE system at the following Web site: www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-livingoverseas/Locate/

2) Contact us at the British Embassy in San José: (506) 2258-2025 We’re confident that registration, particularly through Locate, will improve our ability to provide help in crisis situations and reduce delay and worry in times of stress for family and friends at home.

Scott Simpson

Her Majesty’s Consul

British Embassy, San José, Costa Rica