One of the damaged boats of Michelle Boonstra’s parents’ snorkelling company.
Luckily I soon had contact again with my parents
‘My father was still with me in the Netherlands when we realized how big and how disastrous this hurricane was going to be. He had to rush back to Sint Maarten to get the house storm-ready, because my father is the handyman at home. My mother was very worried because she experienced hurricane Luis in 1995. That was comparable with Irma. When hurricane Irma reached the island we had contact, until the eye was above the island. Luckily I got brief contact again relatively fast, after 12 hours. Then I knew they were OK, so I was very lucky. Nevertheless, the days that followed were very stressful because there was a lot of plundering.
The situation was very stressful for me personally. I got a lot of support from people in the Netherlands, but I sometimes felt they couldn’t really understand. The images everyone saw of the devastated island were of familiar to me as the place where I grew up and where I lived until very recently. You can only understand what that means if you go through it yourself. Luckily I am also in touch with friends from my secondary school who are in the same boat.
Michelle Boonstra is a BSc student of Animal Sciences, and has been living on Sint Maarten for the past 12 years.
I expect it to take years for the economy of Sint Maarten, which is 85 percent reliant on tourism, to recover. A lot of hotels are damaged, of course, and the island no longer looks so attractive. And the coral around the island has been partially destroyed, which is extra damaging for my family’s snorkelling company. The business was already affected because numerous boats are badly damaged. It is doubtful whether my parents will be able to carry on with the business.’