If anyone knows something about weathering a catastrophic hurricane, it’s the people of Louisiana. Between Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav, they know all-too well how vital outside assistance is to rebuilding and recovery. To that end, it’s not all that surprising that the state’s leadership would lend support to the current recovery effort underway in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Recently, the state sent supplies, equipment, members of the National Guard and disaster recovery experts to the island in a show of solidarity.
"We've received so much help from other states, whenever we can we try to pay it forward and pay it back," said Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness executive director James Waskom, who also traveled to Puerto Rico. [...]
"If you go back to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike — all the other states and territories came to the aid of Louisiana and helped us tremendously," [Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard] said. "As a state, we owe U.S. citizens in other states and territories the same courtesy when disasters happen.
"They are American citizens, and if they are in a bad way, then it's our duty and responsibility to help take care of this," Curtis added.
One of the most heartening things to come out of this terrible tragedy is to see how people from all across the country (and even world) have come together to aid Puerto Rico. States like New York, which comprises a large concentration of the Puerto Rican diaspora, have sent utility workers to help rebuild the island’s electrical grid. Celebrities have raised and donated money, chartered planes to send supplies and lent their own planes to get cancer patients to the mainland to receive chemotherapy. Individuals and religious groups have done what they can to help and have gone on volunteer missions to assist. It is truly an example of how people can come together across beliefs, ethnicity, culture, class and language to support those in need.
Sadly, we know that the government response has demonstrated the opposite. Whether it’s an endless loop of bureaucracy, incompetence or poor leadership (likely a combination of all the above), the local and federal government response has been inadequate and is responsible for harming many more people than it has helped. The majority of the island is still without power—with officials saying it could take months before it’s restored. In the meantime, Puerto Ricans are becoming creative in order to make their own sources of light. But all of this isn’t without cost and the recovery will most definitely be complex and long-term work.
One of the biggest hurdles for Puerto Rico's recovery is getting the supplies needed to rebuild to the island and the potential increased costs associated with that. It's about 1,030 miles from Miami to San Juan. The port at New Orleans and access to the Mississippi River is about 1,700 miles from San Juan.
"That alone is going to drive up the costs that FEMA will spend," [Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness executive director James Waskom] said. "All those resources have to get to the island some way. [...]
Republicans love the idea of small government and it most certainly riles up their base. But as they go about defunding vital agencies and services and, yet somehow manage to keep spending oodles on the military, it is ordinary people who desperately rely on government assistance when things like this happen that are left to suffer. It’s one thing to dismiss government overspending as the fault of the Democrats—even though Republicans have no problem spending lots of money on needless wars on drugs and women when it suits them. But it’s another thing to defund and cripple these federal agencies so much that they don’t have the infrastructure, money or capacity to help people in need.
And at the end of the day, there seems to be almost no plan for Puerto Rico at the federal level. While states send experts and volunteers to help understand and remedy the problem, the government is wasting time hiring and firing unreliable contractors that are only making the problem larger and much more grave.
Still, it seems like some states may be leading the way on this recovery effort.
"The electrical infrastructure is what concerns me probably the most," Curtis said. "How do you reestablish almost a complete power grid on the island of Puerto Rico? That's going to be a long-term project."
Curtis was also struck by the impact on the island's transportation infrastructure.
"You have to figure out how do you prioritize that and get the right equipment there to take care of it," he said.
It remains baffling that states can send people who are trying to assess the situation and get down to work to fix it. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to shrug its shoulders and talk about the complexity of the job and how hard it is because Puerto Rico “is an island.” But not to worry, Consoler-In-Chief Donald Trump can always be counted on to show concern and empathy by throwing paper towels at hurricane victims and giving himself a 10 out of 10 on the recovery effort. Nothing says hurricane relief more than a president who prefers tweeting and blaming victims than to rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. You have to wonder if this is what his supporters think making America great is all about.