Rhoda Arrindell says looting will need to be addressed

“The day before, I knew I had to prepare. Having had the experience of a few hurricanes ever since childhood, and after seeing what was to come on the radar, I thought I would prepare as best as I could for the worst, and it was the most I had prepared for any hurricane,” says Rhoda Arrindell, owner of SOiL, after hurricane Irma passed through St. Maarten – destroying the business she had spent all her resources on opening it the year ago.

By Julie Alcin

“I went shopping with my kids and stocked up on the necessary supplies. We had already cut the trees and cleaned up the yard in the weekend. I cleaned the entire house the day before, organized the designated bunker – my study- with sleeping gear for all and told my children what to expect in the days ahead were we to be hit directly.

Arrindell says that during the hurricane, she kept trying to time the winds. Someone had sent her a timeline which helped her to do so. She monitored her bedroom windows, door, and roof, trying to assure her children that they would be alright if the roof and windows would hold out a few minutes more. They then watched and listened to the elements outside.

Arrindell says immediately after the winds had died down, she thought she would try to get some sleep after taking a bath. However, she was distracted by the sounds of people outside. When she went to check, she realized they were already outside surveying the damage; in fact, some neighbors were already outside ready to clean up, and the winds hadn’t yet died completely.

Arrindell says “after seeing the results, especially the level of destruction and looting immediately after in my immediate surroundings, I knew that this would be something that we would need to address in the coming days and months.

I have been coping by remaining busy. After cleaning my immediate surroundings, I helped out with the cleaning of my community; then with assisting as many people as we were allowed to with the supplies we received for our neighborhood. I also spend more time playing board games with my family and surfing the net and Facebook.”

She continues by saying that “the natural phenomena does not perturb me as much as the man-made disasters that surround them. I think we as humans need to think more deeply about the effects of our actions on our environment but also about the society we are building in general, especially when we speak of “progress” but this progress does not materialize in the lives of the real people in our society.”