With all that’s been going on, the news of some 10,000 persons having left since Hurricane Irma devastated St. Maarten/St. Martin should not go unnoticed. Most were aboard evacuation flights or on several cruise ships that brought in emergency supplies and took refugees with them.
As pointed out before, in principle having fewer mouths to feed under the circumstances is not such a bad thing. With the tourism economy in shambles also jobs will be hard to come by, certainly until the actual rebuilding process with insurance monies and foreign aid gets underway.
The other side of that coin is the so-called “brain drain” resulting from this exodus. Many of those who departed had certain expertise, knowledge and skills that were often already in relatively short supply before.
Be that as it may, the island will have to make do mainly with those who stayed. For many this may even require changing professions to remain employed.
If construction workers are what will be needed for the near future, it makes sense to use some of the funding coming in to prepare and/or retrain locals so they can fill those vacancies as much as possible. Also in this case, education will be key to empowerment.
To survive the difficult period ahead, people must become more flexible too and willing to do whatever it takes to provide for themselves and their families. This is a time to focus not on individual desires, but rather that which is required.
