Two years after the devastating Hurricane Irma in 2017, the island of St. Martin is still struggling to rebuild. Class and racial tensions on the island are being highlighted in recovery efforts.
Full story by Kirk Semple for The New York Times here .
August 26, 2019 - A JetBlue flight lands over the famous Maho Beach in Sint Maarten. Even during the low season (aka hurricane season), the island is buzzing with tourists.
August 29, 2019 - Mary Abner, 48, in her partially destroyed home in the neighborhood of Sandy Ground in Saint Martin. Abner used to work at a hotel in Anse Marcel, but since the hotel needs to rebuilt Abner runs a small open kitchen restaurant out of the front of her home.The back room, where Hurricane Irma ripped part of her home away, used to be her bedroom.
August 27, 2019 - Young men practice tricks on their bikes and hang out in front of a home that has a boat lodged in it from the 2017 hurricane Irma in the neighborhood of Sandy Ground. Some residents of Sandy Ground are currently locking horns with the Prefecture of the PPNR, an environmental risks prevention plan that puts their whole neighborhood in a "red zone," meaning that building (and rebuilding) in the neighborhood is extremely complicated if not impossible.
August 28, 2019 - Jah Bash, an activist on Saint Martin, at his home in the hills of the island. He uses his property to teach agricultural practices, and grows fruit trees. "There is no more trust in the French government after Irma," he says. "My passport is French, but I am not French."
August 27, 2019 - A shelf in the office of Daniel Gibbs, President of the Collectivité of Saint Martin at his office in Marigot. The shelf includes a framed photo of the French president Emmanuel Macron, a drawing of himself, and a plaque that reads: "He fights for you, be strong and courageous and the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
August 25, 2019 - Gerome Absalon, 39, walks off a massive boat, the name "Victoria" written on its side, in to the house the boat was lodged in to during 2017's Hurricane Irma in the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Saint Martin. The boat, which remains lodged in a house (the stern of the boat touches the home that Gerome rents next door) two years after the hurricane because of complications finding the owner of the boat.
August 29, 2019 - Mary Abner, 48, in her partially destroyed home in the neighborhood of Sandy Ground in Saint Martin.
August 28, 2019 - Préfète Sylvie Danielo-Feucher stands in the rain and surveys the damage at Sea View, a housing complex completely destroyed in hurricane Irma. "Sometimes I just come out here to remind myself why the PPRN matters."
August 27, 2019 - The ruins of a shopping center in Marigot. The center is in the middle of being repaired.
August 28, 2019 - Club Orient was a once-popular nude beach on the French side of the island that was destroyed in hurricane Irma.
August 27, 2019 - Tourists, many from a Carnival Cruise ship, swim and lounge on Great Bay Beach in Sint Maarten. Anecdotally, many people both on and off the island say that the Dutch Sint Maarten recovered from 2017's Hurricane Irma faster than the French Saint Martin, though some locals feel that the Dutch side only worked to restore the pieces that tourists would see.
August 27, 2019 - Margarita Contrera (right) sells newspapers on the side of the road every morning in the Sint Maarten neighborhood of Defiance. Originally from Santo Domingo, she has been in Sint Maarten for 30 years. When asked about recovery from 2017's Hurricane Irma on the Dutch side of the island, she grimly laughs: "They repaired all the places the tourists wanna go, but the poor people on this side of the island are still suffering." Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York Times
August 27, 2019 - A couple from Toronto, guests on a Carnival Cruise ship, don snorkel masks as they get ready to swim on Great Bay Beach in Sint Maarten. Anecdotally, many people both on and off the island say that the Dutch Sint Maarten recovered from 2017's Hurricane Irma faster than the French Saint Martin, though some locals feel that the Dutch side only worked to restore the pieces that tourists would see.
August 26, 2019 - A group of young men play pool at Splash Bar in the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Saint Martin. Sandy Ground was hit hard by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and the majority-black population seaside community is now caught in the midst of a conflict with the Prefecture because of the divisive PPNR, an environmental risk prevention plan.
August 26, 2019 - Cedrick André at Splash Bar in the neighborhood of Sandy Ground in Saint Martin. André is an advocate and activist especially active in Sandy Ground. He stands firmly against the PPNR, an environmental risk prevention plan that seems to be especially targeting Sandy Ground--a predominantly black, working class neighborhood. "The Prefect says Christopher Columbus discovered this land, and I tell them 'No!' The Arawak were here and they chased them off, and now you're trying to do the same thing to us."
August 29, 2019 - Construction workers from Saint Martin, Saint Lucia and Haiti work on the reconstruction of Residence Le Pirate, an apartment complex damaged in 2017 in Hurricane Irma.
August 25, 2019 - Destroyed boats lay in Simpson Bay Lagoon in Sint Maarten/Saint Martin (the boundary between the two territories bisects the lagoon). 2017's Hurricane Irma sunk or destroyed many of the boats docked in or around the island.
August 26, 2019 - Many of the mangroves on the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten were badly damaged during 2017's Hurricane Irma. "We are worried because the mangroves help protect the shorelines during storms," says Préfète Sylvie Danielo-Feucher.
August 26, 2019 - Préfète Sylvie Danielo-Feucher looks at the map for the PPNR, an environmental risk prevention plan in her office in Saint Martin. Many on the island find the plan divisive.
August 25, 2019 - Damaged buildings sprinkled on the French side of the island, Saint Martin, as seen from the air.
August 25, 2019 - A massive boat's bow lodged in a home in the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Saint Martin. The boat slammed in to the home during 2017's Hurricane Irma. The boat, which remains lodged in a house (the stern of the boat touches the home that Gerome rents next door) two years after the hurricane because of complications finding the owner of the boat.
August 27, 2019 - A massive boat's bow lodged in a home in the Sandy Ground neighborhood of Saint Martin. The boat slammed in to the home during 2017's Hurricane Irma. The boat, which remains lodged in a house (the stern of the boat touches the home that Gerome rents next door) two years after the hurricane because of complications finding the owner of the boat.
August 25, 2019 - A crushed car sits on top of a pile of debris in the neighborhood of Sandy Ground in Saint Martin. Sandy Ground was hit hard by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and the majority-black population seaside community is now caught in the midst of a conflict with the Prefecture because of the divisive PPNR, an environmental risk prevention plan.