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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPuerto Rico on brink of humanitarian crisis
Susanne Ramirez de Arellano
Tuesday 26 September 2017 06.00 EDT
... large swathes of the island have no water, power or cell phone coverage ... 1,360 out of 1,600 cellphone towers are down ... it could take four to six months for electricity to be restored. Hospitals and other emergency services are struggling ...
... Trump ... chose instead to pick a fight with the NFL ...
Puerto Rico is teetering on the edge of a humanitarian crisis, and the television cameras are still largely absent. And .. imagine what else theyre not showing you.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/26/puerto-rico-brink-humanitarian-crisis-media
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)CBS NEWS September 26, 2017, 7:12 AM
... FEMA has sent out over 10,000 federal forces to work around the clock ...
"Two Category 5 hurricanes passing through an island is unprecedented and therefore the response needs to be unprecedented," <Gov> Rosselló said ...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/humanitarian-crisis-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-trump/
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)By Madison Park, CNN
Updated 8:50 AM ET, Tue September 26, 2017
... "You work, work and work, and it's for nothing," Rodriguez said, after losing everything.
The rural areas remain hard to reach due to the destroyed roads and decimated infrastructure ...
"We recognize that it's unprecedented, but now what we're doing is asking Congress to establish a package for Puerto Rico so that we can have the resource. We can have the flexibility in execution and then we can avoid what could be a humanitarian crisis here in Puerto Rico" ...
The governor said the situation at Guajataca Dam in the island's northwest corner, appears to have stabilized. The dam sustained damage following the hurricane and residents living below the dam had been told to evacuate on Friday ...
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/us/puerto-rico-maria-recovery/index.html
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)... over the following five days he said nothing about the situation there, concentrating instead on attacking NFL players who don't sing the national anthem and threatening North Korea in a way that led the country to claim he had declared war on it.
Late Monday, Trump finally returned to the Puerto Rico issue, tweeting: "Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble. It's [sic] old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top prioritiesand doing well. #FEMA"
... Puerto Rico is in dire financial straits. The territory officially became financially insolvent in May. Its power authority also filed for bankruptcy in July. The island has debts of over $70 billion.
However, it's debatable as to whether the food, water and medical situations are "doing well" in Puerto Rico, where the situation is being described as "apocalyptic" ...
http://fortune.com/2017/09/26/trump-twitter-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-wall-street/
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)By BEN FOX, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Sep 26, 2017, 4:57 AM ET
... Most food stores and restaurants remain closed. That is largely because power is out for most of the island and few have generators or enough diesel to power them. The shops that were open Monday had long lines outside and vast empty shelves where they once held milk, meat and other perishables. Drinking water was nowhere to be found.
Mercedes Caro shook her head in frustration as she emerged from the SuperMax in the Condado neighborhood of San Juan with a loaf of white bread, cheese and bananas.
"There is no water and practically no food," she said. "Not even spaghetti."
Maria Perez waited outside a Pueblo supermarket in a nearby part of San Juan, hoping to buy some coffee, sugar and maybe a little meat to cook with a gas stove that has enough propane for about a week more. "We are in a crisis," she said. "Puerto Rico is destroyed" ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/water-food-scarce-puerto-rico-emerges-storm-50095641
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)... Anthony tweeted on Monday night: "Mr. President shut the f--- up about NFL. Do something about our people in need in #PuertoRico. We are American Citizens too" ...
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/09/26/marc-anthony-to-trump-shut-f-up-about-nfl-worry-about-puerto-rico.html