Policeman steps in to help after hurricane
ISLANDERS TRYING TO PICK UP THE PIECES AFTER DISASTER
Reporter A Northumbria Police officer has been helping victims of Hurricane Irma on an expedition to the Virgin Islands.
Inspector Adrian Smiles, from North Shields, spent two weeks of his holiday in a team of charity volunteers in the Caribbean helping islanders whose lives had been ruined by the devastating winds and floods.
As part of Team Rubicon, a charity which deploys military and 999 personnel to help those affected by disasters, British Army veteran Insp Smiles worked on projects with other organisations such as the Red Cross, Shelter Box and Rotary International.
He was also dispatched to Jost Van Dyke, one of the smaller islands, which was still without power and running water more than a month after the hurricane had struck.
Insp Smiles said: “Although we knew the area had been badly affected, it’s not until you see the devastation up close that it really hits you just how dire things are.
“We delivered much-needed humanitarian relief to local people, including tents, water filtration systems and blankets. Just the basic necessities that people depend on to survive – many had lost everything in the hurricane.
“We then worked with local people helping them in clearing sites and putting the tents up, as the area was still suffering from heavy rainfall.
“The community are very grateful for the help we and many others are providing and just want to get on with their lives. This includes getting children back into schooling. This was difficult as the local school, Elmore Stoutt High School, had also been destroyed in the hurricane.
“Alternative accommodation in an old factory unit was identified and the team built 26 classrooms within the factory. We were very pleased to be there when the new school opened for the new term, it was really worthwhile to see how pleased the pupils were to be back in the classroom, the first steps back to his normal life.”
Insp Smiles, who is on secondment to the National Police Federation from Northumbria Police, had previously spent two weeks in Louisiana after devastating floods there in 2016, also as part of Team Rubicon.
Team Rubicon, which has sent 160 volunteers to 14 international operations since it was founded in 2015, said the relief effort in the Caribbean was its largest ever.
A description on a Team Rubicon fundraising page said: “On some islands, barely a house was spared. From the sky, our volunteers have peered through gaping roofs into smashed and shattered rooms where treasured possessions have been reduced to little more than firewood.”