Hurricane Irma wiped out the entire island of Barbuda. “For the first time in 300 years, there’s not a single living person on the island of Barbuda”, Ronald Sanders, the Antigua and Barbuda ambassador to the United States, revealed to Public Radio International.
All 1,800 residents of Barbuda evacuated the Caribbean island ahead of the monstrous storm, that destroyed nearly every structure of the 62 mile island. Sanders admitted that the island or the people didn’t stand a chance for the “monster”. Most of the inhabitants are staying on Antigua now. It will take about $200 million to repair Barbuda and the small island is unable to recover by itself.
We are a small island community — the gross domestic product of Antigua is $1 billion a year. We cannot afford to take on this responsibility by ourselves. Barbuda is not just a disaster, it’s a humanitarian crisis. We are hopeful that the international community will come to our aid, not because we’re begging for something we want, but because we’re begging for something that is needed.
