Aid to Puerto Rico not enough
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Thousands of Puerto Ricans were finally getting water and food rations Friday as an aid bottleneck began to ease, but many remained cut off from the basic necessities of life and were desperate for power, communications and other trappings of normality in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Military trucks laden with water bottles and other supplies began to reach various parts of Puerto Rico and U.S. federal officials pointed to progress in the recovery effort, insisting that more gains would come soon.
In some cases, aid that was being distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency was not enough to meet demand on an island of 3.4 million people where nearly everyone was still without power, half were without running water in their homes and the economy was still crippled from the effects of the storm that swept across the U.S. territory as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 20.
“I haven’t seen any help and we’re running out of water,” said Pedro Gonzalez, who was clearing debris to earn some money in the northern coast town of Rio Grande. Increasingly desperate and with a daughter with Down syndrome to support, he had already decided to move to Louisiana to stay with relatives. “We’re getting out of here.”
FEMA was in the town the previous two days to distribute meal packets, water and snacks.
But people said they hadn’t been able to get there in time.
“This has been a complete disaster,” said 64-year-old retiree Genny Cordero as she filled plastic trash cans with water at the home of a neighbour who was among the lucky ones to have service restored.
Those who made it, however, were grateful. “This will help somewhat, so we don’t starve,” said Anthony Jerena, a 33-year-old father of two teenagers who had managed to get two boxes of water, each containing 24 bottles and, three packages of meals-ready-to-eat.
Yolanda Lebron, spokeswoman for the Rio Grande mayor, said they used a car with a loudspeaker to announce that FEMA would be registering people for aid, but did not mention there would be food and water given out. “We didn’t dare,” she said. “We didn’t know if we were going to have enough.”
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló and other officials said they were aware of people’s deepening frustrating and of the difficulty, and danger, of living on a sweltering tropical island with no air conditioning and little drinking water. He blamed some of the delay on the logistical challenge of getting aid shipments out of the seaports and airports, all of which were knocked out of commission in the storm, and then distributing the supplies on debris-strewn streets.
Rosselló said Friday that the government would seize all food still sitting in containers at the port that private business owners had not yet claimed and would distribute it to people for free. He said the government would use FEMA funds to repay the owners.
He said operations were also ramping up at the airport and that the government had requested drivers and other workers from various federal agencies to help distribute aid, which he expected to begin flowing within the next several days.