Donald Trump’s treatment of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (you’re president of that too, Donald) has been criminally negligent. As he’s golfed five times in nine days, it’s been civilians like chef José Andrés who are filling the vacuum to assist their fellow Americans. But while his efforts and others are no doubt saving lives, too many people remain in crisis.
The Wall Street Journal profiles Sonia Negrón Bell, who trekked from Chicago to Puerto Rico to aid her ailing parents after her father—normally a subdued man, she says—texted to say that “things are bad here.” Negrón Bell called airline after airline until she found one that would allow her to ship a new generator and supplies, and after arriving on the island, drove hours in treacherous conditions to her parents’ home:
She felt a pang when she saw her parents’ pitch-black two-story house. The homes on either side had light from generators. She feared she would find her parents starving or bedridden—or worse.
As soon as Ms. Negrón Bell pulled up, her father appeared in the driveway.
Mr. Bell got out and hugged him. Her mother shuffled slowly out to the porch. “I love you,” she said to Ms. Negrón Bell, who replied, “I love you too.”
Her parents appeared to be holding up—just. It was sweltering inside the house. Pedestal fans stood idle. The refrigerator door was open and inside, it was bare. On the floor were a few buckets partially filled with water.
Ms. Negrón Bell and her husband opened their luggage and began pulling out supplies. They turned on solar-powered lamps and several battery-operated fans. Ms. Negrón Bell made her mother a plate of Vienna sausages and crackers.
“Thank you, Sonia,” Ms. González said. “Thank you.”
According to the town’s mayor, Aguada didn’t see any regular truck shipments with supplies until 12 days after Maria hit.
“Alejandro De La Campa, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s federal coordinating officer in Puerto Rico, said the collapse of communication systems on the island made coordination with mayors difficult and some didn’t know they were supposed to retrieve food and water from regional distribution centers,” notes the Wall Street Journal. That may be the case, but FEMA administrator Brock Long seems to have heard one other mayor, San Juan’s Carmen Yulín Cruz, just fine. In fact, he admitted on national television to ignoring her.
Ms. Negrón Bell’s parents said they saw few signs of government aid in town. Mr. Negrón couldn’t leave the neighborhood because trees blocked roadways. After city workers cleared debris several days after the storm, he drove to a supermarket but found no water or nonperishable food. The couple ate mostly rice cooked on a gas stove and an occasional egg from one of the chickens in the backyard.
The biggest challenge has been the hunt for water—to drink, clean clothes and bathe themselves with a cup and pail. Each day, Mr. Negrón drives across town to a spring on a hillside, where long lines of people wait to fill buckets and lug them home.
Last Saturday morning, Ms. Negrón Bell set out with her husband to find water and ice to cool her father’s glaucoma medication, which must be chilled. They stopped by a supermarket, without luck. A while later, they discovered a large water tank that had been deposited by a truck on the side of a road, and got in line to fill three buckets.
She was relieved to have obtained another day’s supply. “This is basically what you do here,” she said, in the absence of phone and internet service. “You drive around, and when you see something, you stop.”
While Negrón Bell’s supplies were an immediate relief, the generator she brought from the mainland appears to have faltered, which means her parents’ fridge won’t work, leaving her dad’s medication is at risk. It’s a reminder of the urgent need to put Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands—which has received obscenely little media attention—back on the path to recovery. Rather than threatening to pull FEMA from the ground, the president of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands should put down the golf clubs, take a cue from the chef, and get to fucking work.
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