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CENTERVILLE — A Centerville man who from a crumbling villa watched Hurricane Irma wipe out the tiny Caribbean island of St. John worries that its residents aren't getting any humanitarian aid.
"My heart really bleeds for those people who are down there that are going to be in tough, tough straits for a long time," said Jeff Richards, who was vacationing on the island when the massive storm hit. "Even though it's a small part of this world, there's a small population down there that needs help because they're not getting it from anybody else."
Richards said when he left Sunday, the people on the island were in dire need of food, water, medical supplies and diesel fuel to run generators.
The smallest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John has a population of about 4,200 people. Winds exceeding 185 mph pummeled the island for five or six hours last week, knocking down power lines, annihilating homes and turning lush green vegetation brown.
"There's not a single leaf on the island," Richards said.
He worries that as a U.S. territory, St. John won't get the same aid as the mainland. There's no organized government aid and there were rumors on the island local authorities were taking for themselves what few supplies were coming instead of distributing them among the people.
"They're an island in the true sense of the word," he said.
Richards suggested giving to a relief effort such as the one Kenny Chesney started called Love for Love City after the hurricane destroyed his home on St. John. Love City is a nickname for St. John.
Richards said the experience also taught him that Utahns needs to be ready for an earthquake. He said he intends to spend the weekend preparing for that possibility.
