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Article: Virgin Islands Fear Recovery Will Take Years
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- September 25, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1995 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands There is trouble in paradise. Big
trouble.
A week after Hurricane Marilyn smashed this remote vacation
haven into rubble, officials of the U.S. territory insisted that at
least some of the critical winter tourist season can be salvaged from
the ruins of what had been a $1 billion-a-year industry. But even as
planeloads of food, water and disaster teams arrived, both stunned
residents and tourism experts voiced fears that major economic
recovery could take years, not months.
"What are we going to show people?" asked Carlyle Small, an
exasperated, 55-year-old taxi driver who had just spent four hours in
a line to buy gasoline. "It's like an atomic blast here."
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