Wasted: Puerto Rican Hurricane Relief Aid Found Tossed In A Garbage Dump

Town Hall ^ | 10/19/17 | Matt Vespa

[markomalley]

It’s been a month since Hurricane Maria ravaged the island of Puerto Rico. While supplies and aid are flowing, reports on the ground have noted the chronic issue with delivering water to the residents. Also, contrary to popular belief, the Trump administration did take anticipatory actions, as noted by Bloomberg. Moreover, even Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, a Democrat, said that he’s been in contact with the Trump administration, and that resources have been made available to the island.

Bloomberg’s Tobin Harshaw interviewed retired Navy Captain Jerry Hendrix, who mentioned that the light amphibious carriers and ships were put to sea ahead of the hurricane, something that’s not getting it’s fair share of media attention. He also said that logistically Puerto Rico isn’t necessarily right next door to the U.S. mainland. It takes time to get there. Also, the island’s infrastructure was poor and its power grid outdated. Surely, there could be room for improvement regarding aid relief, but did Trump drop the ball? No. Even Puerto Rican Delegate Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon said,“I will tell you that everything that the president said that he was going to send to the island, it's getting there. The resources are there. The help is there.”

Still, the distribution of water is an issue, which the PBS NewsHour highlighted. CBS News’ David Begnaud said that the island is still in emergency mode and not moving towards recovery regarding aid distribution. Moreover, we seem to have aid being wasted. Puerto Rican Secretary of State, Luis Rivera Marin, was caught in a NBC broadcast standing in a dumpster filled with disaster relief.

Marin said when he saw those relief packages in the dumpster crawling with rats enraged him. Supplies are still rolling in, but Begnaud said that bad roads and destroyed homes have prevented drivers from efficiently delivering the goods:

So, the shipping containers you’re talking about, about 3,000 sitting in the Port of San Juan, have been moved out, not all of them, but a majority of them.

And they were intended for grocery stores around the island. Right? So, those were private companies that had brought in these shipping containers, paid for the supplies, but couldn’t move them because their truck drivers were either at home, because the home had been destroyed, or the road was impassable.

More and more supplies are getting out. But let me tell you, the grocery stores around the island, they have a lot of nonperishables, Pringles, candy, cookies, all on the shelf.

But when you go to the meat section, it’s nearly 75 percent empty at the stores we have been to, the produce section 90 percent empty. And finding bottled water there is almost like playing a game.

[markomalley]

Multiple videos at link

[Red Badger]

It would not surprise me if the Democrats who run the place are intentionally destroying the food aid in a directed effort from the DNC to make Trump look bad like they did with Bush and Katrina.........................

[hal ogen]

puerto rico is replete with DIM/LIB socialist losers. What do you expect?

[I want the USA back]

The media wants to sink Trump and will not tell the public the truth.

[null and void]

Didn’t I hear that the teamsters decided this would be a good time to go on strike?

If so the problem isn’t Trump, it’s Trumka!

[Zenjitsuman]

It would not surprise me if the Democrats who run the place are intentionally destroying the food aid in a directed effort from the DNC to make Trump look bad like they did with Bush and Katrina.........................a

I heard that the truckers were not showing up to work also.
Maybe they are union or just Dems, but how about them punishing hungry Puerto Ricans to score points.
Dems are not going to vote GOP in PR, this is so pathetic a political ploy.

[ZOOKER]

Sounds like there is a need for heavy construction equipment to clear roads, all-terrain trucks to deliver goods, and non-union operators for both.

Sounds kinda National-Guardish, doesn't it?

[crosdaddy]

One of my “Guardsman” employees is there right now, bulldozing.

[butlerweave]

Where did they get their water before the Hurricane , Wells ?

[zerosix]

Fresh meat not available in PR, let those folks eat canned (or tinned) meats - the military in combat do.

It’s a bit old but people in Great Britain did for years so that soldiers, sailors and airmen had enough! So did many Americans, as my mom told me.

So PR’s eat tuna, salmon, canned chicken, turkey, etc.

Liberals and media still trying to slap a Katrina charge on Trump can go to He**!

[zerosix]

Fresh meat not available in PR, let those folks eat canned (or tinned) meats - the military in combat do.

It’s a bit old but people in Great Britain did for years so that soldiers, sailors and airmen had enough! So did many Americans, as my mom told me.

So PR’s eat tuna, salmon, canned chicken, turkey, etc.

Liberals and media still trying to slap a Katrina charge on Trump can go to He**!

[bgill]

Yesterday, the Army Corps of Engineers got another $42 million for PR. The government has spent over a billion there and who knows how much in private funds and charities. The graphic shows percent of water and power on the island but I still can't find a chart showing how much of the island had water and power BEFORE the hurricane. Are we paying for repairs or whole new construction?

As of those grocery store shelves, welcome to my normal world in the middle of Texas. Deal with a little inconvenience, PR. I've said this before, my town's one and only grocery store (HEB, a Texas chain) always has empty shelves. The produce is section is pitiful and stocked with what looks like seconds other stores don't want. The regular shelf bread comes in frozen so it's nowhere near fresh. Last week, had to throw out a loaf because it was all moldy inside. The meat section is small and never has more than 3-4 packages of the same cut. If you have two jugs of milk in your cart, someone will usually beg you for one of them because the dairy section is out of milk. Many times, the milk and cream are soured.

Nope, sorry, I don't feel sorry for PR especially since they're letting the supplies my tax dollars paid for rot or go into politicians' pockets.

Yes, I'm sorry they've had homes destroyed and lives lost. But stop counting every death as caused by the hurricane. How many of those homes would have fallen down in a CAT 1? We've seen interview after interview with people sitting on their porches whining but they still haven't cleared debris out of their front yards or street.