On Monday, September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria passed through the United States territory of Puerto Rico. After it pummeled through the island, the devastating category 4 storm left nearly the entire population of Puerto Rico without electricity and a shortage of water and food. There were more than 4,600 deaths and $90 billion in damages that resulted from the hurricane. How well has Puerto Rico recovered from this disaster?
Puerto Rico was one of the first lands to be discovered by Europeans when they discovered the Americas. Spain used it as a site for cultivating cash crops through the use of slave labor. Independence movements sparked by the American Revolution finally reached Puerto Rico in 1868, but the uprising against the Spanish military was unsuccessful.
The United States brought Puerto Rico under their grasp during the Spanish-American war in 1898. Over the next two decades, Puerto Rico would gain its own established government, and Puerto Ricans would be given United States citizenship. Several thousands of Puerto Ricans were even able to participate in World War I.
A mass exodus of Puerto Ricans occurred between 1950 and 1970 to the United States. Puerto Rico’s economic growth has slowed down during the last two decades, placing them under more than $70 billion in debt. Hurricane Maria would only serve to amplify their economic issues.
Many homes today are as they were when emergency aid had first arrived. Homes with their roofs destroyed were covered by blue tarps in order to prevent more water from entering when it rained. Basic, rushed repairs were done to homes, and it took several months for some Puerto Ricans to regain access to electricity. Why is it taking so long for Puerto Rico to heal?
Puerto Rico is having trouble recovering from Maria and their economic ordeals largely because of a lack of funding from the United States’ federal government. The United States territory has received $14 billion intended for repair and reconstruction, which is only a fraction of the $75.4 billion to $128.9 billion that was estimated would be available to Puerto Rico. $5 billion of this was invested towards fixing their already broken electric system.
Furthermore, a lack of reconstruction in residential areas is connected to incomplete funding from the federal government. About $20 billion has been appointed to Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR). However, only $913 thousand out of this amount has been provided thus far.
The blue tarps that were intended to protect buildings from rainfall for only a month remain after two years. Mold that resulted from Hurricane Maria, instead of being removed, is merely being painted over. Is there a reason for taxpayer money intended for Puerto Rico’s recovery undergoing such severe mismanagement? Some corrupt Puerto Rican government officials may be responsible.
Ahsha Nateef Tribble, former homeland security adviser under President Barack Obama and former Deputy Regional Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is under investigation along with Jovanda “Jo/Jojo” R. Patterson, former FEMA Deputy Chief of Staff, for having taken bribes from Donald Ellison, the former president of a company called Cobra. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ellison provided Tribble with “personal helicopter use, hotel accommodations, airfare, personal security services, and the use of a credit card” in exchange for $1.9 billion of taxpayer money that was intended to be used for hurricane recovery efforts. Among the three coconspirators, a total of six Puerto Rican government officials have been arrested for misuse of funding, all of whom denied allegations.
Typically, communities that are struck by natural disasters are able to devote their own money towards emergency aid and reconstruction, then receive money to cover expenses by. However, Puerto Rico was already under a massive amount of debt, so timely recovery efforts were difficult to come by. This may also give insight into why recovery couldn’t be done in a timely manner: assumptions that communities would be able to provide for their own recovery simply did not apply to Puerto Rico with its fiscal and economic issues.
At this time, Puerto Rico has made significant progress in terms of recovery, but there is still much more work to be done. Many are denied access to recovery funds, while others are able to move from their homes that are still lacking electricity and running water. The recently-appointed governor, Wanda Vázquez, came into power after Pedro R. Pierluisi left office. Vázquez’s plans to prevent mismanagement of hurricane funding and direct it towards people who are in need provides hope to people in Puerto Rico.