French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Guadeloupe on Tuesday before travelling on to Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy to inspect storm damage and relief operations as his government comes under fire for its handling of Hurricane Irma.
"We have ordered one of the largest air lifts [of aid] since World War II," Macron said upon arriving on the storm-hit island.
Ensuring a return to normal life is an "absolute priority", Macron said, speaking while still on the tarmac soon after landing.
Irma tore through Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin last Wednesday, killing at least nine people on the French side of an island France shares with the Netherlands and destroying houses, disrupting electrical power and cutting off the water supply. Additional troops had to be sent in to stop looting in the wake of the storm. The damage from Hurricane Irma to the French island territories has been estimated at more than €1 billion.
Macron's plane brought water, food and tons of medicines and emergency equipment. The president was accompanied by doctors and experts who will be in charge of evaluating the damage. About 1,500 troops, police and emergency workers are currently on the ground and some 500 others were expected to arrive in the coming days, according to French authorities..
Macron’s government has been defending its handling of hurricane preparations in recent days amid criticism from both political opponents and locals.
“We’re as French as anyone. We need help and there is no one here,” one woman told FRANCE 24’s Chris Moore in Saint Martin.
French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe tried to assuage the islanders’ concerns over the weekend and said that France vowed to rebuild devastated areas. “I am aware of the fear, the exhaustion and the anguish that the current situation is causing families in the Antilles and on the mainland,” Philippe said. “We are completely mobilised to rescue, to accompany and to rebuild.”