Puerto Rico Still Needs Help, Public Advocate Says

March 15, 2018 journalism Top Stories 0

By ALAIN GAILLARD

New York City Public advocate Leititia James urged Congress on Thursday to accelerate the relief efforts that would better help the embattled island of Puerto Rico and better help evacuees living in the United States after hurricane Maria devastated the island last year.

“Puerto Rico does not need short-term loans from congress,” James said at a press conference organized by evacuee families, community organizations and elected officials to announce a march in Washington DC on March 20. “Privatization is not the answer. Puerto Rico needs a long-term comprehensive aid package that would put the environmental workers in front and at the center.”

James deplored the slow and inefficient response after Hurricane Maria hit the island six months ago, compared to the intervention in other states such as Texas and Florida hit also by Maria. “A recent report shows that three out of five residents who have applied for FEMA money to repair their homes have not yet received assistance,” she said. “Citizens of Florida and Texas who were devastated by hurricanes around the same time don’t have that problem; the question is why. All we are demanding is fair and equal treatment.”

Displaced and living in a hotel in Brooklyn, New York, with her two daughters (1 and 3 years old) since December 29, Daiza Aponte explained in Spanish, with the help of a translator, how stressful her situation is: “One of my daughters has chronic asthma; I have to travel from Brooklyn to the Bronx to get her medication,” she said, adding that the perception in Puerto Rico is that the city of New York is providing housing to evacuees.

 David Sotto, a resident of New York who has family in the island, lamented  that six months after the hurricane, people in some places are still without electricity: “I am worried about my uncle Raoul,” he said. “He is diabetic; it is not easy for him to have his medications, and he needs a refrigerator to store his medication.”
Last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a public–private partnership to help hurricane evacuees from Puerto Rico in New York. Tons of needed supplies have been collected and delivered through the city’s donation drive to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 According to James, citing data, “The Puerto Rican government estimates that 2000 residents will leave the island by the end of the year. CUNY Center for Puerto Rico study estimates that 1100 Puerto Ricans have settled in New York six months since the hurricane,” she said.

Photo by Alain Gaillard

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