When Hurricane Ivan refugee Heike Otte returned to Grand Cayman last weekend she knew exactly where to go to ensure her safety ? the George Hicks High School where the Bermuda Regiment volunteers are camped.

?I?m really safe here. I came here because I wanted to be in a place where people would take care of me. I would have slept in the parking lot, I don?t care. As long as they are around instead of sleeping in a place by myself and everything?s crumbling and looks like Bosnia,? she said.

?I don?t need to be a hero. I need to be safe and Bermudians are really, really helpful.?

Ms Otte had decided to evacuate the Caymans when she became concerned that her employers did not appear to be taking adequate precautions for the coming disaster.

?They just weren?t doing it the Bermuda way,? said the Food and Beverage manager who had lived through Hurricanes Felix and Fabian in Bermuda.

She said the difference between the two countries when it came to preparing for a hurricane was like ?day and night?.

She left on a flight to Atlanta on September 10 ? the day before Ivan made his terrible visit to Grand Cayman.

Her plans to return four days later were stymied when airlines stopped their regular flights into Grand Cayman and the Government imposed travel restrictions.

So she changed her ticket and headed instead to Bermuda where her hurricane refugee status brought out the best in Bermudian hospitality.

She returned to Grand Cayman last Saturday to pick up her belongings on the way to a new job in St. Kitts and found her apartment intact ? due, she said, to what she had learned about hurricane preparation in Bermuda.