Posted on 09/20/2018 11:51:15 AM PDT by cll
"And we stand with Puerto Rico, and we are helping them to rebuild stronger and better than ever before.” - President Donald J. Trump
HISTORIC RECOVERY EFFORT:
The Federal Government has helped lead a historic recovery effort in Puerto Rico in the year since Hurricane Maria hit.
•FEMA has joined with Federal partners and the Government of Puerto Rico to undertake one of the largest post-disaster reconstruction efforts in United States history.
•Never before has FEMA coordinated federal resources to rebuild an entire island of this size.
•The Federal response to Hurricane Maria marked the largest and longest Federal response to a disaster in the history of the United States. This response included:
•The longest sustained domestic air mission of food and water response in our history.
•The largest disaster commodity distribution mission in United States history.
•The largest disaster generator installation mission in United States history.
•Billions in Federal funds have been dedicated for Puerto Rico, including:
•$20 billion allocated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster-related community development grants to Puerto Rico, the largest ever.
•$1.4 billion in federal grants approved for more than 462,000 homeowners and renters.
•$3.2 billion in FEMA Public Assistance funding obligated. •$33 million in claims paid by the National Flood Insurance Program.
•$1.85 billion in low-interest disaster loans from the Small Business Administration.
•$8 million in disaster unemployment assistance for more than 9,000 survivors.
•$802 million approved for FEMA housing assistance.
ONE YEAR LATER:
Significant progress has been made over the last year to help Puerto Rico recover following the devastation of Hurricane Maria.
•Following Hurricane Maria, FEMA was presented with unprecedented challenges as it responded to a Category 4 storm that disabled an entire island.
•Puerto Rico’s entire electrical grid failed following Hurricane Maria, but today power has been restored to 99.99 percent of customers able to receive an electrical connection.
•Water systems were inoperable following Hurricane Maria, but today 99 percent of customers have had water restored.
•Debris and 41,000 landslides shut down all but 400 miles of Puerto Rico’s 16,700 miles of roads, but today roads are clear and traffic is moving.
•Hurricane Maria knocked out 95 percent of cellular sites, but today 99.8 percent are operating.
PREPARING FOR FUTURE STORMS:
FEMA has worked to address lessons learned from Hurricane Maria and ensure the island is better prepared for future storms.
•FEMA has made preparations that will better enable Puerto Rico to withstand future storms, and led an exercise to test Puerto Rico’s capabilities and execution ahead of hurricane season.
•FEMA deployed regional incident management assistance teams to support 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico in developing their own plans ahead of hurricane season.
•Stockpiles have been increased in Puerto Rico, including, as of July 30, 2018, 17 times more water, 7 times more meals, and 7 times more generators compared to the same period in 2017.
•More than 600 strategically located generators are in place to enable FEMA and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to maintain backup power capability during hurricane season.
Thanks!
BTT!
Thank you for this report and for endorsing it.
So glad things are so much better in Puerto Rico now.
We in NC don’t have as much damage after Florence as you did after Maria....but ours is extensive and is still ongoing with the major Eastern NC rivers still in flood stage.
President Trump visited some our flooded areas yesterday and gave out some food.
FEMA has been doing an outstanding job so far. The needs are great - and private organizations are hard at work filling in the gaps such as providing food and supplies to all those who now have nothing.
After the water goes down, the needs will be astonishing....so it’s good to know how well the Fed. Gov.t did in Puerto Rico because I know they will do just as well in NC (and in SC).
We are doing so well, our governor even sent some of our first responders from PR to NC, even if we’re still at the peak of hurricane season!
Take care and good luck.
Question:
The winds hadn’t even died down, and I made the idiotic choice to drive 10 miles to check on my business at night. Returning home, I had to drive against traffic on the highway because the roads were otherwise blocked, nearly killing myself along with a few other “enterprising” characters. So, would that have counted as hurricane deaths or just as a darwinian moment?
Folks all of you, especially Puerto Ricans get your hands on the September, 2018 issue of Costco Connection Magazine and read the article on page 38, written by Peter Greenberg, the travel editor of CBS News. In it he defines and outlines the tremendous progress Puerto Rico has made in restoring the infrastructure of the island. I covers houses, homes, hotels, cruize boats, 4000 restaurants...the numbers are astounding.
Now, I can assure the Governor of PR and that nutcase communist Mayor of San Juan, the lady that shoots her mouth off, before she engages her, brain if she indeed, has one.
Botton line Trumpie came through for PR, just as he said he would!! Case closed!!!
Great post... Sending teams from PR to the Carolinas is a class act...
Wow - that’s wonderful! Thank you, Puerto Rico!
Soon the Kenyan bozo will be trying to take credit for it
There’s nothing like “cubic money” from the mainland taxpayers to fix that crap hole of an island. Yeah, I’m not full of the milk of human kindness where this place is concerned. It’s been a dump forever, and you have to ask yourself, why? What’s wrong with the people there that they can’t create a decent place for themselves without ongoing, substantial financial subsidies from the rest of us. The first answer is that they have a corrupt government, but it’s the government they voted into office, so they’re getting what they voted for, Crap!
Hawaii is a bunch of islands, and they don’t need continual public assistance. Maybe, just maybe, it’s who lives there? Ya think?
Puerto Rico is not a dump. It is actually quite nice, if you’d bother to see for yourself some time. I’ve lived in the states. I’ve travelled all over the world. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. Even after having experienced the majr disaster we just had. Yes, we have a lousy government and that’s on us.
My friend, I have been to Puerto Rico. Stayed at the Caribe Hilton. By comparison to other hotels in which I have stayed, it is a dump! My cab ride into San Juan was the absolutely scariest ride I have ever had, and I race. One of our friends wife had to be hospitalized while we were there. The hospital staff stole the woman’s jewelry. The “medical care” was so sub-standard, that her husband was forced to charter a Medivac jet to fly her back to Atlanta. We decided to take a break from having our annual sales conferences in Hawaii, to try Puerto Rico. There is absolutely no comparison between the two places. We came away with the fact that Puerto Ricans actually on the whole, hate America. There is no English on the TV. But why? You and your people have been the recipients of endless billions of dollars from the mainland that was supposed to help you to become self-sufficient. So tell me, why hasn’t that more or less constant infusion of dollars from people like me made a difference? Why do you live in housing that isn’t fit for a third world country? Why do your “leaders” rat hole supplies that we send you, and equipment that’s destined to fix your electric disty system? And that POS mayor of San Juan! She’s simply a Communist! I just don’t get it! Maybe you can give me a different perspective, because it is part of this country and it should be at least as good a place as most of the rest of what we call America.
What year did you visit PR. I look forward to hearing other evaluations of this comment.
It’s been a few years, but from what I’ve seen from the photos post hurricane, nothing much has changed. We visited the Baia Fosforenza, hiked up El Yunque and drove around the entire island. Outside of San Juan, we saw nothing but poverty with pretty bad living conditions. Even a lot of San Juan looked run down. Basically, it didn’t look much like what we’re used to in America. What I was looking for was a reason why Puerto Rico continues to struggle. The people seem to just accept things the way they are. We crossed Puerto Rico off our list of places to have annual meetings, and went back to Hawaii the next year. There is simply a world of difference between the two places despite the similarity of their climates.
I am sorry and embarrassed that you had a lousy experience during your conference here, vette6387, but I happen to work in that business, and every year our company alone handles hundreds of meetings and conventions, with many being repeat business.
I could go on and on about the virtues of living in the Caribbean and in Puerto Rico in particular, but I’ll just repeat my statement: I’ve lived in the states, have traveled around the world, and I wouldn’t live anywhere else. Well, except maybe for Alabama which I consider my second home. I guess like Hawaii, Puerto Rico is one of those places that you either hate or love. You hate it. I love it.
On our government, I’ve already admitted that we have a rotten one, and that is our fault. Our government, from any political party, really is the spoiler. But to change it, you would need to either work your way through the political parties structures (which would mean becoming one of them), a revolution, or the federal government would have to intervene with our finances. It turns out that the latter is actually happening and we’ll see if it works.
I guess there’s no perfect happiness. It’s always the Yin and the Yang with us. But as I say, that’s life in the tropics.
“I could go on and on about the virtues of living in the Caribbean and in Puerto Rico”
My comment have nothing to do with “life in the Caribbean. I am sure that it’s as nice as Hawaii weather wise. I just didn’t find Puerto Rico “welcoming” as a visitor. I speak Spanish so I wasn’t put off by the fact that the people there didn’t want to speak English, but had to in the tourist business. Like Mexico has been for many years, it seems Puerto Rico has places where they cater to tourists, but do it somewhat grudgingly. I don’t know what the major economic drivers are there, but like Mexico, I’d have to bet that tourism is way up on the list. And yet they seem not to like the “intrusion” even though it pays some of the bills. Somehow there needs to be some fundamental change there. The people need to come around to the fact that they are not going to be “kept” by the rest of us.
Contrary to the rest of the Caribbean, tourism here is less than 10% of our GDP. But, I work in tourism and can assure you that our employees enjoy our line of work very much. So does the rest of the industry. I know that the Caribe Hilton used to have a very rotten workers union (like form the 80s - 90s), and their service quality was at government levels (who owned the Hilton and several other hotels), but that has changed a lot. Unions no longer dominate the industry. Mainland chains like Marriott and Starwood now own and run the properties. And then many individual entrepreneurs and small businesses run tours and attractions. Our cruise ship industry is also booming. Tourism has improved a lot and only recently has the rest of the island realized its potential. Previously, all government efforts were directed at promoting manufacturing, which still is the largest chunk of our GDP. Now we are leaning more towards the service industries.
I had read where some drug companies had located there, but were now pulling out. From what you say though, it doesn’t look like tourism will be the business that bails you out. What about the education system? Is it up to the task of properly educating the young? You don’t get out of poverty by staying uneducated. And like Mexico, are the people leaving for the mainland or other countries?
Our education system had not been to the task, until recently, when it is being overhauled as we speak. Our local Supreme Court validated charter schools and school vouchers, and that’s where it’s headed. Basically, privatization.
Mexico and Puerto Rico, apples and oranges. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and people are free to move back and forth. But yes, we are suffering from a net population loss. There are far more Puerto Ricans on the mainland than on the island.
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