My family, living in Saint Martin (French West Indies) was hit by the Hurricane Irma on September 5th, 2017.
Today, after ten days without communications (but news here and there), I was finally able to talk with them, and it’s quite a relief to learn that they are safe now.
Sunset over Saint Martin after the storm (unknow credit)
The hurricane was the most powerful recorded in history, and it completely destroyed the island (including my parents’ house and business), while causing a lot of civil unrest in the aftermath, without food or water available for the population.While we live in a world which is becoming more and more connected, it seems that in the name of economic efficiency we are losing useful tools when things wreak havoc: memories of childhood include FM radio and flashlight, while now the single-dependency on smartphones makes the information somehow more difficult to gather. In addition, I’ve seen flourishing dozens of rumors all over facebook, because in absence of information, we are all too eager to share every bits of information we can gather.Hopefully, the island will be rebuilt by all its inhabitants, and the sight of pristine white sandy beach will wash away all the the painful memories from the storm.