Hamilton, Bermuda - On Friday, September 5, 2003, Bermuda was severely battered by hurricane Fabian, the strongest hurricane to hit the island in over 50 years. With winds sometimes peaking at 155 mph, Bermuda’s business infrastructure was put to the ultimate test and amazingly, it came through almost perfectly, without any major damage.
Bermuda and its business community have invested millions of dollars to establish high-quality transportation, e-commerce and communications systems. In the process, the island has solidified itself as a leading international business hub. The hurricane provided the type of ferocious test business leaders had been fearing - and preparing for - for many years.
Deborah Middleton, CEO of the Bermuda International Business Association stated, "This storm severely tested our critical business infrastructure and it came through largely unscathed. Our members report that servers never went down, they were able to transact business by e-mail and telephone - in short, our much vaunted telecommunications and e-business hosting systems remained operational at all times. Even though we were battered for more than six hours by 120 mph winds, it was business as usual on Monday."
On Monday, although the roads in some parts were still covered with debris, people could be seen returning to work and getting their lives back to normal. Clean up had begun, shops were reopened, and the Bermuda Stock exchange sprang to life conducting trades from all across the world. By Tuesday, international flights to the island had resumed. In fact, much of the Bermuda business community has already begun gearing up for next week’s 6th Annual International Business Week – a weeklong celebration of Bermuda’s International Business industry.
"It is truly remarkable and a tribute to the spirit of the community as well as to the entire emergency services involved in repairs and clean-up," continued Deborah Middleton. "They made the roads safe and passable for us to return to work on Monday, thus minimizing any disruption to business. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to them."