“Saint-Martin will be reborn, I am committed,” Mr. Macron vowed. “We will do it quickly, we will do it well, and we will do it better.”
But Saint-Martin’s slow, if steady, recovery shows just how difficult coming back from a hurricane can be on a small island, with challenges that go well beyond just the size of financial aid packages.
In Saint-Martin, the toughest, most uncomfortable questions are less about who will pay for rebuilding — France has delivered more than a half-billion dollars of aid — but where and how to rebuild, or whether to rebuild at all amid
the threat of evermore powerful storms.
This has made the debate less an economic one and more about politics, class, culture and race, often pitting the local majority-black population against the French state.
The top French official on the island says she wants more restrictions on construction in the areas most at risk to future storms, in order to protect lives and the economy.
But many working-class residents fear they could be forced to abandon property that has been in their family for generations. Some suspect a land grab, where their waterfront plots will be taken and sold to wealthy developers.
In a region that has experienced the awesome forces of Category 5 storms with terrifying frequency in recent years, the story playing out on St. Martin is likely to be repeated on many other Caribbean islands — and in the United States, too.
When Hurricane Irma crushed St. Martin two years ago, the French state vowed swift assistance. Aid has flowed in, but a fight has followed about recovery plans, exposing racial and class tension.
www.nytimes.com
I haven't had a chance to watch the video you've linked yet.
