St. Maarten should count its blessings,
officials say at Thanksgiving service
~ Christmas lights turned on at Government Building ~
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten should count its blessings for being spared during the just-ended hurricane season. This was the predominant sentiment expressed by officials who addressed the crowd that turned out to Clem LaBega Square for the Thanksgiving Service to mark the end of the 2007 hurricane season.
The service wrapped up with Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams, assisted by Methodist Agogic Centre (MAC) fourth grade student Sonrissa Regales, clicking the switch to turn on the lights adorning the Christmas trees and Government Administration Building, a sign that Christmas is in the air.
Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards said St. Maarten had been blessed this season, but other islands hadn’t been so lucky. “For the second consecutive year, meteorologists had almost universally predicted an above-average season and for the second consecutive year, those predictions were not realised. All of that said, this should by no means be used to justify lowering our state of preparedness for the likelihood of such storms threatening us.
“Hurricane Noel, after all, killed at least 148 people in the Caribbean and then brought wind and rain to the Northeastern U.S. Noel will be remembered for having contributed to the approximately 356 fatalities attributed to passing storms and hurricanes making landfall throughout the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season,” Richards said.
“While our island-nation has been spared, others have, sadly, not had the same fortune. Next to mourning the lost of loved ones, countless individuals now face the burden of re-building, of starting anew. And we all know how frustrating this process can be. So, today, let’s keep these fellow human beings in our thoughts and prayers as well. Let’s continue to remain focused in our yearly natural disaster preparations and continue to recognise that there is a power or being or entity higher than us,” he said.
“Just this past Thursday, we were all quite relieved following rather strong tremors felt as a result of an earthquake … felt throughout the Eastern Caribbean and measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale. We look back at a relatively mild 2007 hurricane season, at least where St. Maarten is concerned.
“For the 2007 hurricane season, most forecasts had called for between 14 and 17 named storms, between seven and nine hurricanes, and between three to five major hurricanes,” Richards said in his speech. “Actually, 14 named storms formed, of which five became hurricanes and of those two became major hurricanes.”
He urged the community to continue to be prepared.
In a passionate speech Wescot-Williams underscored the importance of prayers and the “higher being.” She said last week’s earth tremors had been a reminder of how vulnerable the island was to natural disasters. “St. Maarten was jolted to remind us that there is still a higher being,” she said, adding that even with the best tools and other equipment available today, experts were unable to predict the future. “As a praying nation we must continue to pray.”
She also thanked the community for its outpouring of support during her time of sorrow around the same time last year. “If we look only for the wrong, we will find, but when St. Maarten counts her blessings, they are many,” she said, to loud applause from the audience.
