Family from St Maarten feels abandoned by Dutch embassy

The members of a family who left St Maarten after their home had been hit by Hurricane Irma pointed out that they feel abandoned by the Dutch embassy in Suriname. The family which consists of a Dutchman, a pregnant Surinamese woman and a baby with the Dutch nationality has gone twice to the Dutch embassy in Paramaribo to ask for help. They still have not received a positive response. When asked for comment, Jerry Slijngaard, manager at the National Coordination Center for Disaster Control (NCCR) pointed out that he did not wish to discuss the family’s situation due to privacy reasons. He did, however, confirm that the family has come across obstacles at the Dutch representatives in Suriname. He was reluctant to share more details. The family of three that lived on the Dutch part of the island is currently staying with a relative in Suriname and is receiving the necessary support from the State but it wants to pick up the pieces. “They were reportedly told that “the Dutch embassy in Suriname has no fund for these types of cases.” The Dutch government is reportedly actively busy with providing emergency relief supplies to the island of St Maarten. Dutch St Maarten was largely destroyed when Irma struck last month. Nearly one third of the buildings in the Dutch-ruled section of storm-battered St. Maarten have been destroyed, the Dutch Red Cross said on September 12. More than 90 percent of the structures on the island were damaged in Hurricane Irma. The Dutch Red Cross made the assessment based on photographs provided by the Defense Ministry in the Netherlands, as well as a survey of 5,500 structures before the storm.