It took less than 24 hours—one day—for Hurricane Maria to devastate Puerto Rico and many of its neighbors, but it will take years for them to recover. It is an understatement to say that for everyone affected, the journey back to their once normal lives will be long, painful, and economically challenging.
ICANN joins the rest of the world in extending heartfelt hopes that Puerto Rico will experience a speedy recovery. We want to back up that sentiment by publicly expressing our strong desire to keep ICANN61 in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan.
The public meeting is scheduled for 10-15 March 2018. Our sincere hope is that by that time, recovery on the island will have advanced to the point where our meeting can proceed as scheduled. It is one way that we can all show meaningful economic support for this storm-battered U.S. territory.
We are working with our hosts to closely monitor the recovery efforts on Puerto Rico, and will keep the ICANN community apprised as the date of our meeting draws nearer.
If it is determined that the recovery efforts don’t advance to the point where San Juan can reasonably support a conference that will likely draw several thousand, we will then look for an alternative location. At this point however, that is neither our desire nor our intention.