AIRPORT--The Dutch-French cooperation in the rebuilding of the island after monster Hurricane Irma took a very visible form on Friday when a French military Airbus A400 landed at Princess Juliana International Airport carrying medical equipment and shelter homes for St. Maarten from the Dutch Government.
The Airbus brought in some 20 shelter homes that will be assembled and allocated to residents who have lost their homes to monster Hurricane Irma on September 6. The Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI will assign residents to the shelters.
The “Better Shelter” is a 17.5 square-metres light weight, modular emergency shelter. The shelter can easily be dismantled, moved and reassembled and adapted to different needs and areas of use. The shelter concept was developed by the IKEA Foundation and the United National Human Rights Council (UNHCR).
Among the medical supplies were incubators for premature babies, a Siemens Polymobil Plus – a mobile X-ray machine and anaesthetics for St. Maarten Medical Centre (SMMC).
Fence material for the Police was also off-loaded from the airbus that arrived here from the Netherlands via Curaçao.
Henk de Jong of the Dutch Civil Mission said it was “really good that these supplies have reached St. Maarten, especially the shelter homes and the medical supplies. The country needs these type of goods to recover” from Irma’s devastation.
St. Maarten has received six major deliveries of aid supplies since Irma from the Dutch Government via its Ministry of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations. The aid supplies have arrived here by ships and aircrafts.
Notable deliveries were executed by HNLMS Karel Doorman, a multi-function support ship for amphibious operations of the Royal Netherlands Navy and German Navy and a behemoth Antonov Cargo Airlines plane.
The Karel Doorman will return to St. Maarten for a third time on October 28 with more supplies and aid the recovery efforts.
