French, British Officials View Irma’s Damage, Vow Island Aid

The entire Caribbean region saw at least 38 deaths as a result of Hurricane Irma.

“These millions (announced by the government) are non-ODA”, he said.

The British government has said it is unable to use its substantial aid budget to fund the hurricane rescue effort in the Caribbean since the British overseas territories affected are too wealthy to qualify for aid under official worldwide criteria.

“These are British people and we are here for the long term and we will come through with a recovery plan working with our partners in the region”. The organization said 90 per cent of buildings on the Dutch territory were damaged and a third destroyed as Irma roared across the island it shares with French St. Martin.

St. Martin, an 87-square kilometer island split roughly in half between the French overseas territory of St. Martin and Dutch-administered St. Maarten, has suffered property damage and power outages.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the “whole government is mobilised” to help and the pillaging that hit the island in the immediate aftermath of the storm had stopped. “I want to rebuild not just a new life but also a better life”.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has defended the UK’s response to Hurricane Irma after it was described as “pitiful” by the parent of one British tourist trapped on the island of St Martin.

He said he was there “to additionally activate help endeavors and remaking anticipates the British Virgin Islands and more extensive Caribbean”.

Duncan said the Royal Air Force was transporting supplies all the time and 997 military personnel were now in the Caribbean.

Sir Alan said: “Over 500,000 British nationals, either residents or tourists, have been in the path of Hurricane Irma, which has caused devastation across an area spanning well over 1,000 miles”.

Many local residents were discovering that self-help is sometimes the most efficient.

When 14-year-old Margaret McConnell walked outside the morning after the storm passed St. Thomas, “the sky was tiresome, gray, and lifeless”, she wrote in a long note relayed to NPR by her sister. “We have not received any food or water”.

“This is not St. John anymore”.

Antigua, Barbuda’s sister island and home to about 80,000 people, was spared the brunt of the storm.

France said it hoped to allow commercial boats to go to and from St. Martin and nearby Guadeloupe on Monday, when waters are expected to calm.

United Kingdom billionaire Richard Branson, who rode out the storm in his home in the British Virgin Islands – which President Barack Obama visited when he left the White House – is also rallying for relief.

The Lower Keys – including the chain’s most distant and most populous island, Key West, with 27,000 people – were still off-limits, with a roadblock in place where the highway was washed out. Her body was found floating outside her front door after water entered her house, according to Cuba Civil Defense, which issued a list of all the victims.

With its verdant, sculptured landscape, the main island in the British Virgin Islands has always been a major tourist destination by air or cruise ship, as well as an unparalleled sailing charter hub.

Evacuations continue on the island ahead of Hurricane Jose.

I think, you know, these countries, these islands that were devastated like St. Martin, St. Barts, got more rain and more wind, which is never good.

Mr Johnson said, in addition to the £32 million already set aside following the disaster, the Government would be matching public donations to the Red Cross appeal.