Disaster relief is most commonly thought of as providing food, water, and shelter to those affected by calamitous events beyond their control.
But as communities in places like Texas and Puerto Rico are learning, disaster relief that only allev…
Category: Hurricane Maria
I’m not losing hope as Puerto Rico is rebuilt from the ground up. You shouldn’t either.
This week marks one year since Hurricane Maria tore through the Caribbean islands. As president of the Hispanic Federation, I am marking this somber anniversary by helping to launch a new campaign called “Take Action for Puerto Rico!” to ensure the i…
View More I’m not losing hope as Puerto Rico is rebuilt from the ground up. You shouldn’t either.Donald Trump denies Hurricane Maria death toll in horrifically incorrect Twitter rant
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Just when you thought President Donald Trump couldn’t drag the country further into the dumpster fire of 2018, he found a way.
As Hurricane Florence buzzsaws through the Atlantic towards the Carolinas, Trump sent out a pair of tweets on Thursday morning that denied the most recently reported death toll from the Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
And, somehow, he played the politics card by blaming Democrats for the count, unbelievably making the deaths of 3,000 Americans a partisan issue.
3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018 Read more…
More about Donald Trump, Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria, Culture, and Climate Environment
View More Donald Trump denies Hurricane Maria death toll in horrifically incorrect Twitter rantTrump says his response to the hurricane that killed almost 3,000 people was ‘incredibly successful’
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With a monster hurricane spinning towards the east coast, President Donald Trump took a moment during a briefing on Tuesday to herald the awful, delayed response to 2017’s Hurricane Maria as an “unsung success,” sparking outrage online.
During briefing on approach of Hurricane #Florence, Pres. Trump calls government’s response to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria “tremendous.”
“I think that Puerto Rico was an incredible, unsung success.” https://t.co/mBxz2xIKzY pic.twitter.com/37K3iRkvd1
— ABC News (@ABC) September 11, 2018
Calling it “one of the best jobs that’s ever been done with respect to what this is all about,” Trump is ignoring what was, in fact, a dreadful response that cost more lives than what the storm death toll originally claimed. Read more…
More about Donald Trump, Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Florence, Culture, and Climate Environment
View More Trump says his response to the hurricane that killed almost 3,000 people was ‘incredibly successful’Hurricane Maria is the deadliest storm of the 21st century
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Puerto Rico was ravaged by Hurricane Maria one year ago next month.
Since the island’s long recovery began, the government and independent institutions have worked to figure out exactly how many lives were taken by the effects of the extreme storm.
Today, we have a new, better estimate — and it’s more than 46 times the old one.
According to a new study released by George Washington University (GW), 2,975 people died as a result of the hurricane. The government of Puerto Rico now accepts that number as an accurate death toll, updating their previous official estimate of 64. Read more…
More about Extreme Weather, Disaster Relief, Puerto Rico, Hurricanes, and Hurricane Maria
View More Hurricane Maria is the deadliest storm of the 21st centuryHow a lesbian union president and evangelical nonprofit leader teamed up to get Puerto Rico clean water
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The unexpected friendship between Randi Weingarten and Bill Horan might sound like the beginning of a joke: The president of the American Federation of Teachers — a progressive union leader who happens to be a lesbian married to a rabbi — and the president of the Christian nonprofit humanitarian organization Operation Blessing, founded by the controversial evangelical Pat Robertson, both walk into a bar. Can you guess what happens next?
Unlike the classic joke, Weingarten and Horan didn’t meet in a bar. They were introduced to each other last year, in the wake of Hurricane Maria, by Carmen Yulín Cruz (the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, whom you may remember went toe-to-toe with Donald Trump). What happened next may surprise — and delight — you. Read more…
More about Puerto Rico, Clean Water, Hurricane Maria, Social Good, and Climate Environment
View More How a lesbian union president and evangelical nonprofit leader teamed up to get Puerto Rico clean waterLin-Manuel Miranda creates arts fund for Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria
Lin-Manuel Miranda may just be one of the nicest guys in show business.
The Hamilton creator not only bringing a production of his award-winning Broadway show to Puerto Rico, still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017, bu…
Puerto Ricans never know if they’ll have power. This is how they’re surviving.
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The isolated coastal region of Patillas, Puerto Rico, lost power when Hurricane Maria slammed into the U.S. territory back in September. It took several months to restore electricity to most of the region — and then suddenly, on April 18, an island-wide blackout put residents back in the dark again.
“It’s like the hurricane came all over again,” says Norma I. Melendez, 55, who’s lived in Patillas since age 3. “We have this feeling of desesperanza — no hope, a feeling of helplessness.”
Despite the sense of despair, local residents like Melendez are organizing to provide the community essential resources, such as clothes, food, medical supplies, and access to medical examinations. That story of improvisation and resilience is common across Puerto Rico, despite slow-moving recovery efforts. Read more…
More about Social Good, Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria, Social Good, and Activism
The power is out again in Puerto Rico, 7 months after Hurricane Maria
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Seven months after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is still dealing with the fallout as it experienced an island-wide blackout on Wednesday.
This latest power outage follows a series of outages in the months since Maria. Just last week, half of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) customers lost power when a tree fell across a major power line. And in November 2017, San Juan and several other cities lost power at least twice due to a failure.
The entire electrical system in Puerto Rico collapses AGAIN! Back to September 20th@DavidBegnaud @leylasantiago @maddow @stephencolbertr
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) April 18, 2018 Read more…
More about Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Maria Recovery, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, and Science
View More The power is out again in Puerto Rico, 7 months after Hurricane MariaPower line Whitefish Energy worked on in Puerto Rico keeps failing
It’s been nearly two months since Category 4 Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico, leaving behind immense devastation. On Wednesday morning, the island took another step backward, as the lights went off in San Juan once again.
Shortly after the …
San Juan’s mayor isn’t happy Republicans canceled a hurricane response hearing
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San Juan’s mayor has freely criticized the government’s response to Hurricane Maria. But now she’s been denied the chance to testify before Congress.
SEE ALSO: Trump gets a 10 on Puerto Rico response from San Juan mayor — but on a very different scale
Carmen Yulín Cruz was set to speak Wednesday in a hearing about FEMA’s preparation and response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Currently, only 33 percent of the island’s power has been restored.
She came to Washington, D.C., at the invitation of U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. This happened shortly after her public spat with President Donald Trump and Whitefish Energy, the two-person Montana firm hired to restore power to Puerto Rico. Read more…
More about Congress, Fema, Hurricane Maria, San Juan Mayor, and Hurricane Response
San Juan’s mayor isn’t happy Republicans canceled a hurricane response hearing
San Juan’s mayor has freely criticized the government’s response to Hurricane Maria. But now she’s been denied the chance to testify before Congress.
SEE ALSO: Trump gets a 10 on Puerto Rico response from San Juan mayor — but on a very different scale
Carmen Yulín Cruz was set to speak Wednesday in a hearing about FEMA’s preparation and response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Currently, only 33 percent of the island’s power has been restored.
She came to Washington, D.C., at the invitation of U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. This happened shortly after her public spat with President Donald Trump and Whitefish Energy, the two-person Montana firm hired to restore power to Puerto Rico. Read more…
More about Congress, Fema, Hurricane Maria, San Juan Mayor, and Hurricane Response