TWO months after volunteers were deployed to the Caribbean after Hurricane Irma hit, Chilmark-based disaster response charity Team Rubicon UK (TRUK) continue to help communities rebuild.

They are working alongside local islanders, relief charities and organisations to help after the devastation caused by Category 5 Hurricanes, Irma and Maria. With wind speeds of up to 185mph at the eye wall, Hurricane Irma was the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic.

TRUK had a team touch down in the Caribbean within 48 hours of Hurricane Irma striking and since then 83 volunteers have helped communities across seven separate islands. The charity have also worked alongside Salisbury-based charity Serve On.

Working alongside Salisbury-based search and rescue charity Serve On initial relief efforts were focused on the disaster-struck British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos, with other volunteers based in Antigua and Barbados to organise logistics and help get aid through the region. Teams also visited Barbuda and Dominica to carry out vital assessments and liaise with specialised aid and rescue teams.

Volunteers have helped clear 20km of routes on Virgin Gorda – which is only 12km squared – distributed 60,000 litres of purified water, and delivered aid to more than 6,500 beneficiaries. They have repaired 15 schools and 27 classrooms, and a total of 10,573 volunteer man-hours have been worked.

Teams helped with receiving and distributing aid, and rebuilding homes and schools.

Team Rubicon UK volunteer Mark Kitchin, from Salisbury, was in Tortola and helped to rebuild schools, including building classrooms at a former bathroom warehouse and showroom.

He said it was “fantastic” to be part of those efforts. “Seeing the children back playing football and in proper classrooms, I found it quite emotional,” said Mark.

“It was a tremendous experience, I was honoured to be part of it and it was humbling at the same time.”

Describing the utter devastation, he said: “There was absolutely no green at all it was totally brown and grey where the winds had torn every single leaf of every tree so all you got was spikes. You saw a mass of spikes as opposed to gentle tropical vegetation.”

He added: "The thing I will remember most is how resilient the local people were and how positive they were and able to maintain their sense of humour and carry on life without complaint. That positive attitude brushes off on you as."

“I will always remember the sheer volume of devastation when we arrived, how strong nature is in comparison to mankind. The other impact is seeing children back on a playground or in a classroom.”

Since arriving in the British Virgin Islands TRUK’s volunteers have worked alongside UN Disaster Assessment Coordination, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, local authorities, the British military, Inmarsat, Serve On, ShelterBox, LifeStraw, the Virgin Group, British Police, Ministry of Education and Culture, and local communities to name a few.

TRUK has partnered with UK police forces, UNICEF and Rotary UK to deliver Christmas shoeboxes of toys to children on the British Virgin Islands for Christmas. The boxes are due to arrive at TRUK’s HQ this weekend.