- Salem Haitian Adventist Church and Marsh Harbour Adventist Church were destroyed
- Salem Haitian planned a temporary building on a concrete slab
- Marsh Harbour church was seeking a site to relocate
- ADRA Puerto Rico funded roof repairs for more than ten families
One year after Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas with winds of 185 mph, the Adventist Church was still rebuilding, Inter-American Division News reported in September 2020.
Two churches in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, were destroyed: Salem Haitian Adventist Church and Marsh Harbour Adventist Church. Salem Haitian planned a temporary structure with a concrete slab and wooden frame, to be completed before the end of the year. Marsh Harbour Adventist Church was looking for a site to relocate. About half of the church’s membership had returned to Abaco, and many homes on Abaco and Grand Bahama had been damaged.
ADRA Puerto Rico funded roof repairs and household items for more than ten families. The recovery was complicated by Covid-19, which had caused 74 deaths in the Bahamas by early September 2020, and Grand Bahama Academy was under financial strain because of the pandemic.
“We are only as strong as we seek to make others strong and we are only as safe as we seek to make others safe,” said Pastor Peter Kerr. Eric Auguste, one of those helped, said: “God helped me with medical expenses, a place to stay, to get my life back together.”
The decision to relocate one church rather than rebuild in the same place reflects a hard question after a major storm: whether the old site is still the right one. Rebuilding on vulnerable land can mean facing the same loss again.
Jamaican churches on coastal or flood-prone land should ask that question before a disaster, not after. Where relocation is possible, securing an alternative site in advance can save years. Where it is not, stronger construction and good insurance are the best protection for the congregation’s investment.
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