Lessons from Irma
The disastrous Hurricane Irma is now almost a month behind us. Cleanup activities are still in full swing and in many – but not all – places people have access again to electricity, water and internet. These are exactly the three services everyone was taking for granted before the hurricane destroyed our island. During our struggles throughout the More...
Ship full of goodies
That Christmas came early is no doubt a feeling many grateful people will have after yesterday’s good news about the HNLMS Karel Doorman’s arrival at the port of St. Maarten. His Netherlands Majesty More...
St. Maarten popular
The fact that airlines are allowing people to book tickets although the green light has not been given by the St. Maarten government to execute commercial flights show how popular and in demand St. Maarten is as More...
Economic impact
It is impossible to estimate the economic impact of Hurricane Irma on St. Maarten right now. That the impact will be severe is obvious, but how bad is it going to be? With 80 percent of the room inventory destroyed, More...
Better and stronger
Building a better and stronger St. Maarten after Hurricane Irma; That is the intention of our government, but achieving this lofty goal is easier said than done. We see trucks drive around with sheet metal roofing More...
Think first
The ambition to rebuild St. Maarten as fast as possible is understandable. Everybody wants to go back to business as usual, the economy needs to get going and people need jobs and an income. But fast is not always More...
The spirit of togetherness
We’ve seen help coming from all corners on the French side of the island. Firefighters from Marseille, Guadeloupe and Guyana, members of the French foreign Legion from Russia – an unprecedented outpouring of More...
Bent but not broken
We in St. Maarten are resilient people. We have recovered once already from a major hurricane disaster 22 years ago when Luis hit the island followed by Hurricane Marilyn. This time around, Hurricane Irma hit the More...
Strength and wisdom
Irma is now a category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers per hour. The National Hurricane Center expects further strengthening, so we are in for some really, really bad weather. There is More...
Civil inquiry
The Public Prosecutor’s Office’s request for a civil inquiry into possible mismanagement at the Harbor Holding Company shows once more how tedious and time-consuming the road towards clarity and transparency More...
