Sorry if stupid question but do the people of St Maarten have insurance for hurricanes? I can't even imagine how much it will cost them to rebuild........awful.

Yes. They do have insurance. Of course they do.

Not all have insurance for this. Some do but not all. Hurricane insurance is expensive and an add on to regular policies. Just like earthquake insurance.

Well we had insurance. Car and Condo. SBYC had insurance. Nagico is the company we were with. This is SXM we are talking about.
Actually after Lenny SBYC had enough money to put accordion shutters on all the units.
irina

Yes. Maybe large businesses, people and hotels that could afford insurance got it. But not all residents could afford that luxury. The couple that are staying with us from St Maarten that were off island when it hit don't have hurricane insurance and said most of their friends on island don't either.

Ugh that is what I was afraid of.....these poor people lost everything with no insurance to get their home rebuilt. Just awful......

Most of the people on St Maarten absolutely do not have hurricane insurance. It is prohibitively expensive and the vast majority of people there work for minimum wage or, if lucky, perhaps slightly higher. SBYC is hardly the standard to go by given that it is a higher end property and occupied, primarily, by those with relatively high financial means on the island.

Not to be a pessimist but, unfortunately, things are about to get worse for the people of the island we all love. Unemployment will spike significantly as all of the waiters, cooks, housekeepers, clerks, and so many others who worked in the restaurants, hotels and stores that are now damaged and out of business lose their jobs. This is what happened after Luis and Lenny and will happen again now that Irma has come and gone.

There are numerous fundraising campaigns for the people of St Maarten listed on GoFundMe.com, including one for the staff of the Summit. I urge all of you to visit the GoFundMe site, pick the campaign that is most meaningful to you, and contribute generously to help people get through this terrible tragedy.

The people of St Maarten have been there for all of us for so many years. Now it is time for us to be there for them. Thank you.

I agree with you. Things are about to get worse. I’m hoping the government focuses on and works 24/7 on the following: (1) Get the airport operational, (2) restore the utilities – electricity, water, phone etc, (3) clear the roads of blockages and debris. If these can be accomplished quickly then many other things will fall into place and the island will be on the road to recovery.

Heard the prime minister William marlin live last night on laser-101.....they are doing all you said

Airport is open during the day.....aid flight and evac flights to occur

Electricity is coming on line and is attached to hospital.....working on bringing up elsewhere asap

Garbage collection has begun, big shredders have come from a,b,c islands to shred metal and ship off island

Police flown in from a and c

Dutch marines on island, more coming

Dutch king coming Sunday or Monday

Food and water coming

Getting phone towers up

Key is to maintain order to ensure folks don't get desperate/panic

To be honest, he sounded great and up to the task and better than many of our mayors/governors, etc

Laser 101 is dong a great job

After luis in 1995 the people that had insurance got zip... Most companys ran for the hills, and when its a huge catastrophe you never get enough to rebuild... Plus the cost is outrageous, and deductables. For now, not only is the Island suffering from massive destruction, but gangs are going around stealing, and looting.. Imagine poor people trying to protect there property? they are calling for more dutch milatery... We have heard nothing from anyone on Island, but we have no hopes that our home is standing considering what we are hearing and seeing, and no we do not have insurance... Not to mention, we are not young people that can wait years to reconstruct.. What to do is the question... That is our home away from home, so thank god we have our residence here in pa...Very sad situation... People will be not making money for a very long time...