A Few Updates from Puerto Rico

I have been keeping in touch with Glorin, the former homeless shelter director who rescued us in Puerto Rico.  At this point, I am only able to get text messages from the island.  It usually takes a few hours to get messages to Glorin because cell service comes in and out.  She says that  50% of the island is still without water and working communication systems. Many roads are still inaccessible. The lines at the gas stations are reduced as are the lines at the supermarkets.  Glorin said that the supplies at the stores are limited to basic essentials.  She said that spirits are good and courtesy and patience are governing the roads without traffic lights.  No problems between homeless people and law enforcement, but most of the population were not very happy with the visit by the President of the United States.  She specifically said that it was "offensive and disrespectful."

Not much headway on getting electricity to the island.  There was more rain over the last two days which did not help and caused more flooding.  Many streets are in need of clearing the debris.

There was a nice series of stories on PRI's the World radio program about getting a letter to a woman's grandmother.  She was cut off because communication is nearly impossible in the rural areas of Puerto Rico.  I liked the description of the smell of diesel in the air in San Juan.

There was a video circulating on Twitter from a couple of current or former US Military who were trying to get supplies to the center of Puerto Rico.  They were complaining that there were massive supplies in San Juan, but no one was getting it out to people in the country.

The Guardian reported there is a shortage of food on the island.  "We are 1.8 million meals short,” said one senior FEMA official. “That is why we need the urgency. And it’s not going away. We’re doing this much today, but it has to be sustained over several months.”  There was no sense of urgency to get food out to the people, and this is what I saw also.   MSNBC quoted a FEMA official saying that it was the Mayor's job to distribute food not federal officials. 

Bad news for the Island as the Jones Act suspension expired and will not be renewed.  The Miami Herald reported that only one ship took advantage of the suspension of the Jones Act to deliver assistance.   This means that it is illegal to gather supplies in the Dominican Republic and travel 126 miles to Puerto Rico to drop those off.  Any assistance has to come from only US ports only on US ships.  It does not make any sense.

Finally, Vox news looked at the body count and found huge disparity in the number missing and the number of deaths. They found a number of unexplained deaths, and this story is worthy of a read. CBS News reported the official death toll up to 45 with a number of deaths due to people drinking untreated water. "Gov. Ricardo Rossello said the two recent deaths are believed to be from the bacterial infection known as Leptospirosis. He said the deaths occurred in a Bayamón hospital."

I forgot to document that Channel 5 updated their story about our two weeks in Puerto Rico last night.  Here is the link.  They used a number of our pics and videos that we took while on the Island. 

Mostly bad news, Sorry.

By Brian Davis