Coming Together After Irma
By Eric Green | Sep 07, 2017
This past week has been a challenge for the Caribbean. The
impact of Hurricane Irma cannot be understated on the islands that we here at
Private Villa Rentals have all called home at one time or another.
In St. Barts, St. Martin and beyond, high winds, rains and waves
from the ocean have brought life to a standstill as peoples’ homes, island
infrastructure and every other aspect of life has been greatly affected.
Throughout the last week our thoughts have constantly been with our community
on these islands: the locals who make these destinations so wonderful for our
guests and our hospitality partners and friends.
We’ve been in this business a long time. As such, these people
are more than just our partners, they’re our family: our community.
We were there nearly twenty years ago when Hurricane Lenny
passed over the Lesser Antilles. We remember the damage and devastation Lenny
caused: the boats tossed pell-mell onto the roads, the planes flipped over on
the tarmac, the broken windows and cracked streets and damaged homes.
Hurricane Lenny was a category 4 storm - powerful, yes, but
nothing compared to a category 5 hurricane like Irma.
More than the storm itself, though, we remember the resilience
of the peoples of St. Barts, St. Martin and beyond, coming together to overcome
that great blow, exactly the way that we’ll come together again now, after
Irma. For many of us, the story of Hurricane Irma is a two-minute segment on
the nightly news. For the people of the Caribbean, this story is simply a fact
of life. Irma isn’t the first storm to wreak itself upon the islands and it
certainly won’t be the last. As a community, as a family, we will recover and
rebuild.
Our thoughts have certainly been with our island family this
past week, and for those who wish, we’d like to send more to aid in the
recovery effort to come.
For anyone with the means and desire to donate to the recovery
effort in the wake of Hurricane Irma please follow this link to the Red Cross
Hurricane Irma Appeal form. Any donation will greatly help our Caribbean
friends and family.
Private Villa Rentals will continue to update our valued guests
on the situation as our local partners in St. Barts, St. Martin and throughout
the Caribbean confirm new information.
Eric Green
AuthorEric Green is Private Villa Life's boots-on-the-ground travel writer. In this capacity he visits, embraces and lives our villa destinations of Barbados, St. Barts and St. Maarten with the sole purpose of capturing the Private Villa Rentals Life and style for your enjoyment.
