I fully appreciate the apprehension. It's a daunting situation and many of the resorts are currently much more comfortable than the airport. I had this very conversation with my friend as we realized it would be after 4pm before we left the Grand Solmar. She was very concerned about us getting stuck at the airport overnight. However, this is what I told her: First in, First out. The people at that airport first are going to be the first to get out. If we had waited we'd be behind anyone who showed up in the next 12-14 hours (at best) before we could have returned. Do the math in the article posted by PStreet. They've been operating evac flights since Tuesday afternoon. They estimate through Wednesday they had evacuated approximately 5000 tourists...while they estimated there were as many as 30,000 stranded. That's at least 6 full days of evacuation necessary, not taking into consideration the approaching tropical storm. Not that I want her to "work" the system, but anyone in a wheelchair or with children under 10 is getting straight through the front of the line.
There is currently food and there may currently be clean water, but the power is going to go out at some point...at some point the water filters will stop working (if they haven't failed due to the storm already, which is why we took the precaution to boil water). There are no new fresh supplies to be gotten. Dehydration to me is the next biggest risk given the heat and humidity and the unavoidable reality that you're going to have to wait in some sort of line at the airport at some point. PB is not the only group making clear everyone must be out by Friday. They know another storm is coming and they are already running by a thread. They know they can't really support people past Friday given the current situation.
I think I am fortunate to have traveled extensively and to have lived in developing countries. It has stripped me of the sort of complacency I gained growing up in the suburbs of CA with little more to worry about than the occasional earthquake. Even in the US we have struggled with profound natural disasters (Katrina) and in a place with fewer resources and a slightly less robust infrastructure, there are bound to be serious problems. At some point you have to accept that someone else will not always be able to take care of you (even if they REALLY want to) and you have to take a measured response into your own hands. I think my friend thought me a bit odd to have started boiling water and to have told her we need to go buy protein and carbohydrate dense items to keep on hand...after all, the resort promised us we'd all be out by Friday and they seemed to be serving plenty of food. However, I don't think we regret it one bit, even now haven gotten out fairly quickly (Ok...off my soapbox).
I pray everyone finds a safe way out or just pure safety until they can.
