Puerto Ricans say U.S. relief efforts failing
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO» The Trump administration declared Thursday that its relief efforts in Puerto Rico are succeeding, but people on the island said help was scarce and disorganized while food supplies dwindled in some remote towns eight days after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory of 3.4 million people.
President Donald Trump cleared the way for more supplies to head to Puerto Rico by issuing a 10-day waiver of federal restrictions on foreign ships delivering cargo to the island. And House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief ac- count would get a $6.7 billion boost by the end of the week.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said “the relief effort is under control.”
“It is really a good news story, in terms of our ability to reach people,” she told reporters in the White House driveway.
Outside the capital, San Juan, people said that was far from the truth.
“I have not received any help, and we ran out of food yesterday,” said Mari Olivo, a 27-year-old homemaker whose husband was pushing a shopping cart with empty plastic gallon jugs while their two children, 9 and 7, each toted a large bucket. They stood in line in a parking lot in Bayamon near the hard-hit northern coast, where local police used hoses to fill containers from a city water truck.
“I have not seen any federal help around here,” said Javier San Miguel, a 51-year- old accountant.
Trump tweeted later: “FEMA & First Responders are doing a GREAT job in Puerto Rico.” He also took issue with media coverage of the administration’s response, writing: “Wish press would treat fairly!”
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, called for the U.S. military to immediately provide security and distribution of aid in remote areas. “As was said after Hurricane Andrew: ‘Where the hell is the cavalry?’” he said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Presidential spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said 10,000 government workers were helping.
The U.S. military was sending a three-star general to Puerto Rico to help direct the hurricane response. Lt. Gen. Jeff Buchanan, commander of U.S. Army North, was to assess the situation so that the military can provide the highest possible level of support, Northern Command spokesman John Cornelio said.
In San Lorenzo, 40 miles west of the capital, people walked through calf-high water to get supplies because the bridge over the Manati river was washed away in the storm. Residents are collecting spring water to drink and taking turns cooking food for each other because residents are running low on supplies.
Thousands of cargo containers bearing millions of emergency meals and other relief supplies have been piling up on San Juan’s docks since Saturday — and may not reach storm survivors for days.
Distributors for big-box companies and smaller retailers are unloading 4,000 20-foot containers full of necessities such as food, water and soap this week. Ports have become choke points in the effort.
Mark Miller, a spokesman for Crowley Maritime, based in Jacksonville, Fla., said, “That’s where the supply chain breaks down — getting the goods from the port to the people on the island who need them.”
“You have FEMA personnel spread thin. You’ve got DOD personnel spread thin,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. “Puerto Rico is the biggest challenge of all of them. It’s obliterated their ports, their airports, their infrastructure, their electricity, and supplies need to go by boats. It’s a very challenging situation.”
Federal aid is beginning to flow, with Marines and Seabee engineers assessing damage and clearing roads.
Early Thursday, six tankers holding almost 76,000 gallons of fuels such as gasoline and diesel were anchored in the waters outside the island.
Trucks are ready to be loaded with the goods and precious diesel for backup generators, but workers aren’t around to drive. Instead, they’re caring for families and cleaning up flood damage — and contending with the curfew.
The buildings that would receive supplies are destroyed and without electricity, Miller said. The transport companies that have staff available and diesel on hand encounter downed poles and power lines while navigating 80,000-pound tractor-trailers on delicate washed-out roads.
“It’s one thing to move a little car through there,” Miller said. “It’s another to move a semi truck.”