King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will visit St. Maarten today to take note of progress being made in the recovery effort. While he came shortly after Irma struck and will no doubt see the positive steps taken since then, she will probably be impressed by the level of destruction still visible.
A lot of suffering is also hidden though, with many people roof- or even homeless and more losing their job and income by the day. To be clear, the emergency relief aid provided to a large extent by the Netherlands until now was badly needed and is very much appreciated by the population, as is the personal attention of the royal family.
The next phase will be that of reconstruction, which is crucial in terms of getting through the difficult year ahead and restoring the hard-hit tourism industry on which the livelihood of practically every resident ultimately depends. That will take big money such as the 550 million euros in financial assistance made available by the Dutch Government, but also solid plans, good decision-making, creativity, cooperation, pragmatism and, above all, common sense.
As departing Civil Mission Head Erwin Arkenbout said, the challenges are “not that big” if people “come together” and reduce the “fighting and differences” (see related story). His idea to offer training to help workers adapt to the new situation should not be overlooked.
Considering the extreme devastation, the island bounced back amazingly well and is actually in a favourable position to rebuild its economy with help coming from Europe. Despite all the hurt and pain, there is indeed enough reason to be thankful for the end of another Atlantic hurricane season, no matter how disastrous.
Where there is life there is always hope.
