The humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico continues to intensify, reaching historic levels. Two major hurricanes in September 2017 left the island in a state of destruction and despite impressive contributions of private citizens, hurricane relief efforts are greatly lacking. Food and water supplies remain scarce (and expensive), health care is comprised and difficult to access, schools remain closed and still, there is no electricity in numerous regions.
SinLuz
Life Without Power
Puerto Rico’s apagón, or “super blackout,” is the longest and largest major power outage in modern U.S. history. Without electricity, there is no reliable source of clean water. School is out, indefinitely. Health care is fraught. Small businesses are faltering. The tasks of daily life are both exhausting and dangerous. There is nothing to do but wait, and no one can say when the lights will come back on
A hardship for all, the lack of electricity puts particularly the elderly and sick in great peril. Without the ability to operate oxygen machines and other medical equipment, many are forced to go without critical care or rely on generators which emit toxic fumes. Spikes in deaths caused by pneumonia and emphysema deaths have been recorded.
But the highest surge was in deaths from sepsis — a complication of severe infection — which jumped 50 percent over last year. That change is notable and could be explained by delayed medical treatment or poor conditions in homes and hospitals.
Pneumonia and emphysema deaths also saw spikes.
In addition to shortages of clean water and electricity, rotting garbage is piling up creating further unsanitary conditions and exacerbating the public health crisis.
After Maria, Puerto Rico Struggles Under The Weight Of Its Own Garbage
Even the newly added space in Toa Baja's landfill is rapidly filling up, Ruiz says. Before the hurricane hit, he said he thought it would take five years for that area to fill up; Maria has sped up the timeline.
And he's grappling with immediate problems. Birds and insects circle around what is currently a hot, rancid, open dump.
"This is the active area of the landfill, you will see a lot of uncovered material," Ruiz says. Workers would normally cover the expansive mess with earth every day to comply with federal regulations, but he says they haven't been able to do so for a week because the private trucks they use are now being used by FEMA.
The children of Puerto Rico are enduring tremendous stress and trauma from a total disruption of their normal lives.
Most the children of Puerto Rico have not been able to return to school. Waiting for repairs and certifications to reopen, schools remain shuttered. Shortages of supplies, lack of electricity and no clean water make the facilities unusable.
Tens of thousands children remain isolated and “without the routine of their classes, friends, and meals.”
Puerto Rico needs a lifeline that only Congress and the Trump administration can provide
While 3.4 million U.S. citizens suffer the devastating effects of the federal government’s crippled response, Republicans have introduced a tax bill that would decimate Puerto Rico.
This is what Puerto Ricans need from the government. Right now.
By Lin-Manuel Miranda
The federal government’s response to the disaster in Puerto Rico has been painfully slow and not commensurate with the hurricane response in Texas and Florida. It reminds me of Ricky Martin’s 1995 song “María.” He sang, “un pasito pa’lante María, un dos tres, un pasito pa’tras.” That’s the reality in Puerto Rico — one step forward, one step backward. We rejoiced when the first package of $5 billion in aid was approved by Congress. But then the House included a 20 percent import tax on products manufactured in foreign jurisdictions in the tax-reform bill it passed in November. Because Puerto Rico would be considered a “foreign jurisdiction” under the bill, this tax would deal a mortal blow to the island’s fragile economy, costing up to 250,000 jobs.
For more on the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, please see ongoing coverage by Denise Oliver Velez.