Philipsburg – In an effort to realize the October 2nd deadline date of the reopening of our schools, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport received great assistance from the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) from the Netherlands. USAR is a search and rescue organization, which assists in the event of a disaster. On September 21st, the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, the honorable Silveria Jacobs, met with the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) of the Netherlands, for farewell gathering at the Fire Department. Upon arrival in St. Maarten, USAR along with local contractors assisted…
Author: The Publisher
Cul de Sac, St. Maarten — There will be an urgent meeting for all citizens of Guyana, especially those wishing to return home, on Wednesday, September 27, 2017, at 3:00pm with the Honorary Consul, Mr. Cleveland Beresford. The meeting will take place at St. Maarten Academy’s academic campus. ~ Meeting on Wednesday ~ The Minister of Citizenship, the Hon. Winston Felix is requesting the following information: Names of evacuees, passport number, address in Guyana, name and address of relative/friend and telephone number in Guyana to arrange the evacuation flight. The Government of Guyana is arranging this transportation to Guyana free…
PHILIPSBURG — The Philipsburg Jubilee Library regrets to inform all members and other library users that due to circumstances beyond our control the library is closed until further notice. The library building suffered severe damage from the recent hurricanes. However our team is working diligently towards re-opening. Members are kindly asked to hold on to all checked out library materials until the library reopens. We will not charge late fees or fines for damaged or lost library materials during the first weeks after reopening. Contacting the library is possible via the e-mail address director@sxmlibrary.org or via our Facebook page “Philipsburg…
PHILIPSBURG — Today photo journalist took a series of photographs of buildings whose roofs have withstood the category 6 storm force winds of Hurricane Irma without much of a scratch. You can view these photographs below and see for yourself. When questioned about this phenomenon, architect Julian Bruney, of Independent Drafting, Estate Development & Surveying (I.D.E.A.S.), told this newspaper that this had everything to do with the pitch of the roofs. “Anything above a 22-degrees pitch withstand storm force winds better.” says Bruney. “The higher the pitch, the better they stand. The old people always build that way.” Bruney explains…
PHILIPSBURG — UTS employees and management are positive and full of resolve following a full status-check of company, staff and operations following the passing of hurricanes Irma and Maria. After carrying out as many emergency repairs as possible, around the clock, during the past weeks, a full assessment was done to cover the entire scope of damage and repairs needed to restore full mobile and broadband internet service to our Eastern Caribbean islands. The company’s infrastructure sustained major damages as a result of the aforementioned hurricanes, with hurricane force winds bringing down the main telecommunication tower on the roof of…
PHILIPSBURG — Former general manager of Telem and UTS, Mr. Dennis Franklin Rombley, has passed away. From 1979 Mr. Rombley served in various roles at Landsradio from Technical manager, project manager and eventually General Manager of Landsradio and the restructuring and rebranding of the company to Telem in 1995. During this year he coordinated rebuilding of the telecom network after the devastation of Hurricane Luis. In 1996 he was appointed general manager of Antelecom, which was rebranded as UTS until 2001. Serving as secretary of Island government telecom committee as to research the Telecom Market on St Maarten. Then Eventually…
MONT VERNON – Now that the airport in L’Espérance near Grand Case has reopened for commercial flights, the army that was based there has relocated to nearby Mont Vernon, around the funeral home that belongs to Etienne ‘Toochie’ Meyers. On Saturday evening, the first convoy of army tucks arrived at the location. Later that same evening, helicopters of the French armée de terre (ground troops) started flying on and off to the new army base. This operation continued on Sunday. Photo caption: The French military has established its base at the funeral home of Toochie Meyers in Mont Vernon –…
The ambition to rebuild St. Maarten as fast as possible is understandable. Everybody wants to go back to business as usual, the economy needs to get going and people need jobs and an income. But fast is not always good and even though we are not into advice, we’d like to note that it is better to think first and act later. The destruction Hurricane Irma has inflicted on our island ought to serve as a lesson. The devastating storm has relentlessly exposed our weak points – in construction in particular. Rebuilding cannot be more of the same. If you…
PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten (Sunday September 24th, 2017) — Social & Health Insurances SZV will re-open Monday thru Friday as of Monday September 25th from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm permitting stable electricity, water and internet connections. SZV will re-open one central office location offering limited services primarily for ZV insured customers and slowly expand over the coming weeks towards normal operations, conditions permitting. Scheduled appointments up until September 29th will be re-scheduled by SZV and customers will be contacted, eliminating the need to visit the office to re-schedule. “We are happy to have the office open again to the public,…
PHILIPSBURG – Due to the severe damage that was caused by Hurricane Irma to both the social and economic infrastructure of Sint Maarten, the Government of Sint Maarten will develop a national recovery plan to guide the reconstruction and recovery of Sint Maarten. A work group to draft the National Recovery Plan was established by national decree. The work group will take the various damage and needs assessments into consideration and will consult both local and international stakeholders as part of the assignment to draft a comprehensive national recover plan that will serve as a roadmap for the reconstruction and…
