Anger grows over Puerto Rico relief effort

SAN JUAN, Sept 30 (AFP) - US military and emergency relief teams were ramping up their aid efforts for Puerto Rico amid growing criticism of the response to the hurricanes which ripped through the Caribbean island.

“This is not a good news story,” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told CNN on Friday following comments made the previous day by a top Trump administration official. “This is a people-are-dying story.” President Donald Trump, who will travel to the US territory early next week, meanwhile defended the response to the disaster on the island, which has been virtually without power, water and telecommunications since getting a twin walloping from hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Trump said the storms were of “historic and catastrophic severity” and a “massive federal mobilization” was underway involving over 10,000 federal personnel and 5,000 members of the US military.

Elaine Duke, the acting Homeland Security secretary, said she was “very satisfied” with how the relief effort was going so far and that it was “proceeding very well.” “I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane,” Duke said.

Her remarks sparked the angry response from the mayor of San Juan, the capital of the island of 3.4 million people. “Maybe from where she's standing it's a good news story,” Yulin Cruz said. “When you're drinking from a creek it's not a good news story. If you don't have food for a baby it's not a good news story.

“I'm sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me,” Yulin Cruz said. “I would ask her to come down here and visit the towns and then make a statement like that, which frankly, is an irresponsible statement.” Duke is to visit Puerto Rico on Friday.

Praised for the federal response to hurricanes in Texas and Florida, Trump has been on the defensive over his handling of the crisis in Puerto Rico, where he heads on Tuesday.