Its location in the North-Eastern Caribbean makes Sint Maarten susceptible to hurricanes. The island’s tourism based economy brings a steady flow of cruise ships and aircrafts to its shores. Incidents with these means of transportation form a serious risk. Other possible hazards are flooding, bush fires, earthquakes and landslides.

The two most recent major hurricanes were Luis in 1995 and Lenny in 1999. Hurricane Luis, in September 1995, caused an enormous amount of damage to the island. 80 % of the buildings sustained serious damage or were totally destroyed. Utilities were wiped out and the island was left in chaos. The tourism-based economy took years to recover. Until today, some resorts have not been rebuilt due to insurance related issues. Yet the island has learnt its lessons from these storms and has been rebuilt much stronger than before.
In November 1999 hurricane Lenny came in over the Caribbean Sea (the “wrong” direction) and stayed in the area for 3 days. Wind damage was limited (mainly due to the stronger rebuilding after hurricane Luis), but due to heavy rainfall the island suffered major flooding. Philipsburg, the capital, was partly flooded for 2 weeks.

The above mentioned hurricanes have proven that disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation on Sint Maarten and the other islands was not sufficiently developed to be able to cope with these and other disasters.
A policy plan was drafted for the Netherlands Antilles to improve disaster management on the islands and to strengthen the fire departments that form a central role in this system.
As a continuation of this general policy plan a special policy plan was drafted for the improvement of the Sint Maarten fire department. This policy plan served as a corner stone for the restructuring of the department. To date, about 90 % of the items mentioned in this plan have been implemented.

The Island Council of the territory approved the Island Ordinance Disaster Management (“Eilandsverordening Rampenbestrijding”) in 2000. This Ordinance regulates, among other things, the responsibilities of the Island Government for disaster preparedness, the command structure during an actual disaster and the requirements for disaster plans.
Based on this ordinance, the Island Council approved the Disaster Plan for the Island Territory of Sint Maarten in 2002. This plan is a general plan, which outlines the responsibilities of the various partners in the disaster management organization.

The lt. governor of the Island Territory has the supreme command during a disaster. He is assisted by the fire chief, who is the National Disaster Coordinator and a Disaster Advisory Council (Eilandelijke Rampenstaf) consisting of 10 Emergency Support Function coordinators. This council advises the lt. governor on all matters concerning disasters, including prevention, preparedness and mitigation.

Due to the fact that Sint Maarten is part of the Netherlands Antilles, assistance can also be requested from the Federal Government in Curaçao, the Royal Dutch Marines based in Aruba and Curaçao and the Kingdom Government in the Netherlands.