Campaign Action
The federal government’s shameful response to the devastation in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria has left many people wondering if the plan is to simply let Puerto Ricans on the island die. Now, this may sound morbid and like an exaggeration, but if you’ve been paying attention it’s impossible to feel like this is anything but a targeted strategy. This is a sentiment that was recently echoed by the volunteer nurses who recently went to Puerto Rico to assist with health needs caused by the hurricane.
The nation's largest nurses union condemned the federal government's emergency response in Puerto Rico on Thursday for "delaying necessary humanitarian aide to its own citizens and leaving them to die."
The stinging criticism came from members of the nonprofit National Nurses United, speaking on Capitol Hill with Democratic members of Congress after a two-week humanitarian mission to Puerto Rico. About 50 volunteer nurses visited two dozen towns in urban and rural areas, and described the desperation of Puerto Ricans — even five weeks after Hurricane Maria hit the island — as worse than anything they had witnessed on other humanitarian missions, including the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans and the earthquake in Haiti.
The conditions that the nurses described are nothing short of horrific. They detail arriving to help in towns that still haven’t received water, food or assistance from FEMA. It’s as if FEMA has completely abandoned its mission in Puerto Rico, under the guise that this is really just “too hard.”
The nurses described doctors performing surgery in hospitals with light from their cellphones, children screaming from hunger, elderly residents suffering from severe dehydration, and black mold spreading throughout entire communities.
"We cannot be silent while millions of people continue to endure these conditions," said Bonnie Castillo, associate executive director of National Nurses United. [...]
FEMA has acknowledged that its mission in Puerto Rico is the most "logistically complex response in FEMA history.”
How is this an reasonable excuse? This country, the very same one that had the technology to put a man on the moon in 1969, can’t get help to people on an island that is less than 1,200 miles from Florida? Of course, it’s really a mystery why we should be expecting FEMA to do anything. Though supposedly they’ve learned something from their awful response to Hurricane Katrina and have been planning for hurricane response, they haven’t actually come up with any plan for Puerto Rico that they are allowing the American public to see.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, citing unspecified “potentially sensitive information,” is declining to release a document it drafted several years ago that details how it would respond to a major hurricane in Puerto Rico.
The plan, known as a hurricane annex, runs more than 100 pages and explains exactly what FEMA and other agencies would do in the event that a large storm struck the island. The document could help experts assess both how well the federal government had prepared for a storm the size of Hurricane Maria and whether FEMA’s response matches what was planned. The agency began drafting such advance plans after it was excoriated for poor performance and lack of preparation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Frankly, at this point, us seeing 100 pages of a report isn’t going to help Puerto Ricans get food, water and supplies. But if FEMA isn’t going to release the report (which sounds like it might be made up), they could at least do what’s in it. Here we are, 5 weeks post-storm and nearly 75 percent of the island is without power and 25 percent has no running water. A person can live for about three weeks without food and only a few days without water. This is life and death.
Instead of getting these vital supplies to people, FEMA is handing out paperwork. “[Olivia Lynch, a volunteer nurse from California] said FEMA workers were asking residents to give them copies of utility bills and bank routing numbers. Then the agency promised to follow up via email or text. But most people don't have electricity or phone service, and their homes and documents may be destroyed.” This is absolutely unacceptable. If FEMA can’t do its job, they need to get out of the way and let private companies like Tesla (not Whitefish Energy or any of those sketchy contractors) and citizens do it for them. At this point, we couldn’t do any worse.