We have people in Puerto Rico who are there to help getting desperately needed supplies of food, water, fuel and electricity — and no one doubts they want to do good and that they want to help but they are FAILING. Time is running out for people, the elderly, the sick who need medical care, refrigerated supplies and life support.
Via WGN
“There are thousands of containers in the port of San Juan right now,” said Diana Emmanuelli, a Maria evacuee. “And at the airport there’s tons of aid coming in right now as well but it’s just they can’t distribute it because lack of infrastructure and communications.”
Diana evacuated to Chicago from Puerto Rico right before Hurricane Maria hit. She says getting donations to the island is only half the battle.
“The chain of custody down there right now isn’t being determined as quickly as it should be because of the lack of communication,” she said.
She says because people have no way to communicate truckers can’t be mobilized. She says she’s also heard the government is actually taxing incoming donations and going through everything box by box.
From the WSJ.
Authorities have reopened Puerto Rico’s biggest port but say efforts to speed relief supplies to the island devastated by Hurricane Maria are being hampered by heavy damage to roads, computer systems and other critical infrastructure.
Cargo ships carrying supplies from the mainland U.S. began arriving at San Juan’s port on Saturday. But distribution of water, food and temporary shelter is building slowly, federal officials and private companies taking part in the relief efforts said, with thousands of shipping containers waiting for transport at the port.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló made an urgent plea for aid on Monday, saying the territory’s 3.4 million residents are facing a humanitarian crisis. “The devastation is vast,” he said.
Crowley Maritime, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based ship operator that serves the island, said in a statement that it had “more than 3,000 loads of food, supplies and other cargo” in San Juan awaiting distribution but that efforts to restore transportation were resuming only slowly.
“We want to get goods to people as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Jose Ayala, Crowley’s vice president of Puerto Rico services, said in a statement. He said the company was still trying to get truckers to take goods and bring back shipping containers to carry more supplies.
Two people died in a San Juan Hospital before the power went out, meanwhile there are hundreds of government aid worker having meetings and writing memos to each other, waiting for marching orders on what to do. Food, water and fuel are stacking up on the docks without trucks, drivers and clear roads to get them to where their needed.
The following segment includes and interview with Mayor of San Juan.
This is exactly what went wrong with Katrina, it wasn’t the Hurricane that caused the worst problem it was the failure to act in a decisive and organized manner.
THIS IS A CLUSTERFUCK PEOPLE. It needs to stop, now — but we have a President who wants to pick a fight with the NFL over a piece of cloth and a song written by a Slavery supporter. Hillary Clinton called for the deployment of the USNS Comfort Hospital ship two days ago, but it’s just now being deployed out of Norfolk and won’t arrive in San Juan for another 5 days. We don’t have a permanent Homeland Security Director because Trump reasigned Gen. Kelly to be his chief of staff.
Time is running out, and lives are at stake.
Thursday, Sep 28, 2017 · 4:44:21 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
10,000 containers of supplies are now sitting at the ports in Puerto RIco and 3 Star General Jeffrey Buchanan has been assigned to take over logistics for having those supplies delivered to those in need. That’s good, it’s still 6 days late — just as there was a 6-7 delay while thousands were trapped in the Superdome during Katrina over a decade ago — but it’s something.