Puerto Ricans say relief efforts failing them
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 theway formore 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 account would get a $6.7 bil- lion boost by the end of the week.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke declared that “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 the town of Bayamon near the hardhit northern coast, where local police used hoses to fill up 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, including more than 7,000 troops, were helping Puerto Rico recover.
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 set to arrive Thursday to assess the situation so that the military can provide the highest possible level of support, Northern Command spokesman John Cornelio said.
In the town of San Lorenzo, about 40 miles west of the capital, people walked through calf-high water to get supplies because the bridge over the Manati river outside town was washed away in the storm.
San Lorenzo residents are collecting spring water to drink and taking turns cooking food for each other because residents are running low on basic supplies.
“Just like God helps us, we help each other,” said resident Noemi Santiago, weeping. “Here one person makes food one day, another makes it the other day, so that the food that we have goes further.”
FEMA, which is leading the relief effort, has sent 150 containers filled with relief supplies to the port of San Juan since the hurricane struck on Sept. 20, said Omar Negron, director of Puerto Rico’s Ports Authority. He said all the containers were dispatched to people in need but private aid supplies have not reached Puerto Rico.
“The federal response has been a disaster,” said lawmaker Jose Enrique Melendez, a member of Gov. Ricardo Rossello’s New Progressive Party. “It’s been really slow .”