Recovery of the Island of Saint Martin after Hurricane Irma: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Gwenaël Jouannic,Ghozlane Fleury-Bahi,Anaïs Ameline,Kelly Pasquon,Denis Crozier,Marie-Aude Corbillé,Oscar Navarro,Chloé Tran Duc Minh,Julien Gargani,Paul Guéro,Abdel Halim Boudoukha

doi:10.3390/su12208585

Abstract

This study focuses on the ongoing recovery of the French part of the island of Saint Martin following Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The recovery of this semi-autonomous territory is a major challenge for local authorities and the French state. Based on the hypothesis that the consequences of natural disaster would be an opportunity for a territory to build back better, this study aims to understand the recovery trajectory that is underway on the island of Saint Martin 2 years after Hurricane Irma. Our analysis of Saint Martin’s recovery from natural hazards is based on three factors: (1) the historical context and the evolution of building construction over the past 70 years; (2) the organization of local and national authorities; (3) the perception of the situation by the population. This original interdisciplinary approach of the post-disaster recovery phase provides a better understanding of the complexity of this period. The results of this study and the cross-analysis of these three methods highlight the causal links between the governance of the reconstruction, the psycho-sociological recovery of the disaster victims, and the history of the urbanization of an island exposed to natural hazards.

Highlights

International institutions, through the ratification of the Hyogo and Sendai frameworks, invite member states to develop policies and mechanisms to ensure that disaster risk reduction is integrated into recovery and reconstruction efforts
This study focuses on the ongoing recovery of the French part of the island of Saint Martin following Hurricane Irma in September 2017
The fear of partial island abandonment in the face of natural hazards and sea level rise weighs on the population. This phenomenon has already been observed in other island territories, such as Chesapeake Bay, USA [46]. This interdisciplinary work proposes an analysis of the recovery of the island of Saint Martin following Hurricane Irma according to three points of view: the historical context and the “long” term; the organization of local and national authorities; the perception of the situation by the population

Summary

Introduction

International institutions, through the ratification of the Hyogo and Sendai frameworks, invite member states to develop policies and mechanisms to ensure that disaster risk reduction is integrated into recovery and reconstruction efforts. Countries that have introduced risk reduction policies into recovery planning often encounter difficulties in their implementation In this respect, the current state of post-disaster recovery following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in the Lesser Antilles shows the difficulties of reconciling the two imperatives of “building back faster” and “building back better”, in the context of social, political, and media pressure. The day after Irma, the president of the local authority of Saint Martin, Daniel Gibbs, spoke of the destruction of 95% of the island and 60–70% of the houses [3] In response to this exceptional situation, the French government has aimed to carry out a virtuous recovery effort in order to draw conclusions from the consequences of the disaster and seize the opportunity to revive the tourism economy, which had already weakened before Irma. A French government official report cited “a unique opportunity to rethink these territories differently” [4]

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