Thousands of Nicaraguans, unfamiliar with hurricanes and jaded by repeated warnings of possible U.S. invasions, refused to flee Hurricane Joan's deadly path Saturday. The hurricane, with 125 mph winds, destroyed about 90 percent of the buildings in the Caribbean city of Bluefields and slashed through the Corn Islands off the Nicaraguan coast. The two areas have a population of about 68,000. Although thousands were evacuated, thousands of others remained in their homes despite warnings, President Daniel Ortega said in a speech broadcast on radio and television. Initial reports said 15 Nicaraguans were killed Saturday and the overall death toll from the storm that began ravaging the South and Central American coasts last Monday was at least 65 in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. The hurricane weakened to a tropical storm, but torrential rains continued and Nicaraguan officials said they would order forced evacuations if need be as the storm struck Managua, 180 miles west of Bluefields. David Zuniga, director of civil defense, angrily called for people to go to shelters. ``Sandinista police and the EPS (the army) have orders to evacuate by force if necessary,'' Zuniga said on television. Some who refused to evacuate low-lying ground said they didn't believe the government, which has on numerous occasions called on the people to mobilize against a U.S. invasion. ``The people were tired of these calls. They don't believe them,'' said Ruben Hernandez, who refused to evacuate his home in the Las Torres neighborhood on the edge of Lake Managua. ``The government has told us so many lies that we just don't believe them any more,'' said a Managua woman who spoke with the condition she not be identified. Others said people didn't realize what damage a hurricane could inflict _ the last hurricane to strike Nicaragua was in 1911. Government radio repeatedly issued storm warnings. Ortega said during his address that he had visited Bluefields on Friday and urged people to leave. ``I told the people to leave their homes because it is easier to rebuild your home than to reconstruct your life,'' he said. Only a few thousand people left Bluefields in a government evacuation program Friday, although others fled coastal zones. Authorities feared Joan's heavy rains could cause more flooding, especially in Managua, which is relatively flat and poorly drained. Thousands of refugees from the seven-year civil war with the U.S.-supported rebels known as Contras have moved into Managuya, swelling its population to 1 million. Many live in wooden shacks beside dirt fields. Civil defense committees piled sand bags in front of many buildings, cut tree limbs that might be blown down and cleared drainage ditches. Windows of the eight-story Hotel Intercontinental were taped over.
