A FEMA Error Drove Fears That Food and Water Aid to Puerto Rico Was Ending. It’s Not. Apparently a slipup in communication, but a black eye for FEMA in the short term.
Another article about the problems PR has regarding paying disaster-related expenses. See: Hurricane-Torn Puerto Rico Says It Can’t Pay Any of Its Debts for 5 Years
FEMA chief: Puerto Rico still in emergency response mode. Hopes to achieve 95 percent power by end of March
Nearly four months after two hurricanes hit this island, the chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s operations in Puerto Rico says he has never before had to continue emergency relief efforts like delivering food, water and temporary roofing so long after a natural disaster.
“So this far into a disaster in my experience, at least in the last 20 years, we never do that, we’re never — the food and water would have stopped weeks ago. But we can’t, and one of the driving factors for that is power,” Michael Byrne, an acting regional administrator for FEMA, told The Washington Times.
MIT conference seeks solutions for reconstruction in devastated Caribbean. Two-day workshop (Dec. 12 and 13) featuring island leaders explores ways to rebuilt better, more resilient infrastructure.
Source: HSWire.
From the Wash Post, Dec. 14: This is What Puerto Rico Needs from the Government Right Now.
From the Wash Post, Dec. 15. Life Without Power.
From Bloomberg News, Dec. 14: How to Rebuild Puerto Rico.
From Governing: Central Florida Already Struggled to Provide Health Care and Affordable Housing. Then Hurricane Refugees Poured In. The region is coping with one of the biggest influxes of Puerto Ricans fleeing the hurricane-ravaged island.
Mr. Trump’s Paper Towels Aren’t Helping Puerto Rico
Two months after Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, a sense of desperation seems to be yielding to resignation at best. More than half of the island is still without power, and hundreds of thousands of residents are fleeing to the American mainland in an extraordinary exodus.
It has been weeks since President Trump visited to jovially toss rolls of paper towels to needy fellow Americans and brag about how successful the recovery effort was. But true evidence of progress has been hard to come by. Even the simplest symbols of government, like traffic lights, remain useless. Most of the Pentagon’s emergency troops have begun pulling out, except for those working on the island’s shattered power grid.
From the Harvard Medical School: Puerto Rico after Maria. Harvard doctor on providing critical health care in Puerto Rico.
Thanks to Peg Blechman for providing the citation.
From The Hill: Trump slams Puerto Rico: ‘They want everything to be done for them’
Generally it is not smart to bite the hand that feed you; but it is also not smart to blame the victims of a natural disaster for their flight.
One more take on this topic: Trump doesn’t get it on Puerto Rico. He just proved it by lashing out at San Juan’s mayor.
[Be sure to read the comments below.]
Hurricane Maria Live Updates: In Puerto Rico, the Storm ‘Destroyed Us’
Puerto Rico faces numerous obstacles as it begins to emerge from the storm: the weight of an extended debt and bankruptcy crisis; a recovery process begun after Irma, which killed at least three people and left nearly 70 percent of households without power; the difficulty of getting to an island far from the mainland; and the strain on relief efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other groups already spread thin in the wake of several recent storms.
Recovery Diva 