Today at 9.06 AM people on the island of Sint Martin stood still by the passing of hurricane Irma, which I was already writing about yesterday. I tried to keep my attention to the normal stuff I had to do, but even though I am living 8000 kms away now, I was totally struck by this emotional anniversary, but there was also room for a laugh with a tear combined.
This picture was taken on 15 September 2017 when I was walking home. Or better said climbing over debris trying to reach home. Even though the house didnt have a front and back door anymore and was wide open, it had absolutely zero priority to fix this, because stuff is just stuff and I was needed more at hospital work than being home worrying about that. This walk was absolutely crazy.
Notice anything strange about this picture? For instance that there is a cruiseship in the background of al this rubble? Or was it the small yacht on its side that caught your attention?? ;)
Yes, by now I can also have a laugh about it here and there but let me explain this situation. Boats and storms don't really go very well together. When the winds blows hard, the waves get bigger and bigger and hurricane Irma produced waves by us up to 5/7 meters high. Most of the boats which was anchored in the water ended up somewhere on the shore in a not so good position. Hence the boats on the roads everywhere. A bit further I have also posted a nice youtube video where you can also see boats ending up everywhere.
The second thing what is memorable about this picture is the cruiseship in the background. Because there is absolutely no reason ofcourse for a cruiseship to dock in a total warzone. Well, the cruise liner Royal Caribbean had rescheduled their boat to pick up supplies and deliver them in Sint Martin (because most of the cargo harbor was down and the airport was still down), and pick up around 1500 people to evacuate them off the island. Kudos for these guys for making this bold samaritan move!
Back to the walk home...
The walk or climb towards the house was utterly ridiculous. I saw people scavenging for anything usefull or the remains of their belongings (which I understand, even my couch flew out of the window haha), and almost nothing along the way reminded me of the road where I had walked my dog so often. It was as if I was dreaming walking there, and only now these details are coming back seeing this picture again. So much happened in those first days, so many impressions.
I remember the homeless guys of the boardwalk barbequeing the last remains of meat before they perished shouting to us
'Clarifying a storm like this guys, dont you find?? We are all equal now, we all don't have homes anymore!!'
Which made me laugh really hard, because it was true, but also very confronting. It was true. How many people had lost their homes? How many people slept on the street in those last couple of days? How many elderly people did we treat because they were neglected and sleeping on wet matrasses because they didn't have a roof anymore? How many people had reached out to me (because I was in the Dutch news so all of a sudden a familiar face) to ask if I knew if their family was alive, and if I was able to get them some food.
What did those Spanish ladies end up doing who gave me a lift from the hospital, when they were offering me their last cookie and said they didnt have any food or gasoline left. But yet they offered me their last cookie because I was a nurse and it was important that people like us kept well fed. And what about that old grandpa I gave my coffee to every morning on the street, who said he didn't need a house. As long as he could sleep on the beach somewhere and have a smile and a laugh and a sip of coffee he would be fine. And what about the security guard who was attacked by his own security dog stripping in the middle of the street to ask me if his fresh wound looked okay or not. Yeah, wearing scrubs in a sort of warzone streets makes you a recognizable person.
Check out the video to see some aftermath as well as how nicely Sint Martin looks again now
I remember all of those people so vivid, and everyone has their own story to think back to today one year back. We all do it in our own ways.
